ASA: Wheatley's Story
by E1craZ4life
Summary: A charred face and a socially awkward demeanor has made it difficult for a young Briton to be accepted by his attempt at a new life in North America. His closest success has been at Aperture, but it all went downhill after he became a robot. Only fate and time will tell what happens when he reaches the breaking point.
1. Chapter A1

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter One

* * *

I was born on June 23, 1945 as Wheatley Mortimer Pendleton to a modest family in London, England. I didn't have a lot of friends when I was a child, as I was fairly inept with talking to others and had a knack for causing trouble (or being blamed for starting trouble) and having poor thinking skills. The one thing I wanted in life more than anything was to have a close friend without fate dealing a cruel hand.

Most of my childhood was spent at a boarding school in Bristol. My mother (who was a BOAC flight attendant) had sent me there when I was 5, and I stayed there until I graduated in 1963. My father (who was a construction engineer) communicated with me by post starting at age 10, and he sent me Christmas gifts and birthday gifts starting at 13.

After completing my studies in Bristol, I enrolled into Oxford University to study engineering, against my mother's wishes that I be an accountant. I graduated from Oxford in 1967, immediately afterward being enrolled into Nottingham by my mother to study accounting. My father visited me during that Christmas, and I promptly dropped out, much to the chagrin of my mother.

Father had offered to purchase airline tickets to a place of my choosing. My first choice was Australia, but the aircraft had to return to Heathrow when a fire broke out. Father and I both escaped, but my eyes were severely burned by the fire. I was outfitted with spectacles following the ordeal, and Father had to be put in hospital for a number of weeks. I decided at that point to fly to Canada instead.

* * *

I arrived in Toronto on May 5, 1968, with a stash of £5,000 that was swapped out for Canadian currency. After renting out an apartment, I was able to find work at a petrol station in Windsor, Ontario. It wasn't long before I read a newspaper article about US Senate hearings about missing astronauts. One of the participants was an applied sciences company called Aperture Science.

The description of Aperture's practices seemed to unnerve my colleagues and the customers who read the article. But I, for reasons unknown to me even now, found myself wanting to look for work with them. I was keen to find out as much as I could about them and figure out a way to get there. I continued working at the petrol station until 1971, when I had saved enough money to carry out my formulated plan to fly from Toronto to Detroit and then Marquette on the Upper Peninsula before going to Aperture by taxicab.

* * *

It was a long hike through the grass fields. My only guide beyond the chain link fence lining the back of the parking lot were a pair of tire treads beyond the vacant security booth. Fortunately for me, the treads followed one single path; if there were any forks, I would never have found my way. The hike was made even more difficult with the suit I was wearing. I had always worn a fedora after the aircraft fire at Heathrow to cover my "brownie eyes" as everyone at the petrol station liked to call them.

I finally reached the end of the tire treads, which looped around a small aluminium gardening shed in a teardrop shape. There were no further tire treads in the knee-high grass beyond those I had followed to the shed. Seeing no other options, I tried to open the door of the gardening shed, which didn't budge to my efforts. I decided it wouldn't help to pull harder, so I released my grip and, seeing a button on the side of the door, pressed it.

Inside the shed, I could hear a motor running. It did seem somewhat confusing in that the noise sounded like it was coming from way down below in the earth. Within moments, the noise grew louder and louder until a loud click and a whoosh of released air sounded from right behind the door, which then flew open with enough speed to throw me off balance and fall backward into the grass.

As I recovered and looked through the open door, I could see what appeared to be the inside of a lift. I wanted to believe that the elevator would lead to Aperture, but it seemed impossible that an underground tunnel could house an entire science research facility. I got a good hold of my briefcase and marched into the lift.

As soon as I touched the back wall, the door slammed shut behind me. Before I could figure out what was happening, the lift suddenly dropped like a stone. The sensation of zero gravity was extremely disorientating, and the lack of light made it extremely nauseating.

Finally, the lift started to slow down, and it came to a stop so slowly that it felt like it had never exceeded 1 kilometer per hour.

I felt around for my hat and briefcase as the lift opened back up. After finding them, I stepped out into the pitch black void, unsure of where I was and how I was going to escape. I decided to keep my hand on a wall and walk along it so I wouldn't lose my way.

I don't how far I got, but I soon grew tired and collapsed against the stone wall into a deep slumber.


	2. Chapter A2

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter Two

* * *

I don't know how long I had been sleeping, but it was definitely a long time. I only awoke when I heard a voice. "Hey! _Hey!_"

I slowly stirred awake, and I saw two spots of light which I recognized as torch beams. I grabbed my briefcase and held it to my chest as I scrambled to my feet.

I couldn't see who was there, but one of them was definitely a male. "Hey! What the hell are you doing down here?"

I knew they would be keen to frown upon trespassers, but lying was never a forte of mine. "I was... erm,... carrying out an... inspection of this... cave?"

The beam on the left was eclipsed by the shape of something on a chain, followed by a female voice speaking up. "Is this yours?"

It looked like a pocket watch, and a survey of my person revealed that mine was missing. "Oh,... yes, it is. Thank you for finding it."

"It was right outside the door." Once my hand was visible, the timepiece was placed into it. "Mind explaining why you're here, Mr...?"

I answered her once my pocket watch was in my pocket. "Pendleton. Wheatley Pendleton."

The torch beam on the right lit up a hand coming towards me. "Cave Johnson."

The same happened in the glow of the other beam. "Caroline Breen."

I shook both of them in turn. "Pleasure to meet you. Erm,... you don't... suppose I could borrow one of your torches, do you?"

The left beam jostled as Caroline offered hers. "Here you go."

"Thank you." It became apparent when I had the torch in my hands that it was mounted on a miner helmet. Taking off my fedora, I placed the helmet over my long, dark, messy hair.

"Ah, that's better." I was finally able to see the two people with me.

Mr. Johnson appeared about five centimeters shorter than me, but had a fair bit more muscle than I could hope for. His hair was somewhat honey coloured like his jacket and trousers. The only things he was wearing that weren't honey coloured were his turtleneck and shoes, which were both brown.

Caroline was wearing an off white dress shirt that ran down to her knees. She had white stockings that covered what the dress did not, as well as a pair of black high-heels. Her waist-length hair was raven black, and her eyes were a brilliant shade of green.

Mr. Johnson walked around behind Caroline before leaning against the stone wall. "Alright, so, what are you doing here, Wheatley?"

"Is this Aperture Science?"

"What's left of it, yes."

"Oh." I wasn't surprised. "So, you were getting ready to take the place down, I take it?"

"Actually, we're trying to get the place back up and running."

That caught me off guard. "How do you plan to do that?"

"Well, the first thing we need to do is build a new place here."

"Hm. You're going to need some engineers for that."

"Yeah, we will. Do you know any?"

"As a matter of fact, I actually have an engineering degree from Oxford University."

"Well, that's one step forward."

"Yep. Now, in case you haven't already figured out, I'm not from around here."

"I take it you're from England?"

"Yep. I flew in from London to Toronto three years ago, and I've worked as a petrol station attendant in Windsor since then before figuring out where this place was. I found out about this place while reading about the 1968 Senate hearings on missing astronauts in the papers, and I thought I might stand a chance making a living here."

"Well, if you want to put that engineering degree to good use, look no further than here."

Caroline shrugged. "As if he had a choice."

They both started laughing, and I tried to play along before saying "I don't get it."

Caroline eye twitched slightly. "Mr. Johnson said to look no further than here; but, being underground in a dark cave, it's difficult to look further than here."

"Ohh... gotcha." I reached behind my head to adjust the helmet. "So, does that mean I'm employed here?"

Mr. Johnson nodded. "You can count on it, Pendleton. Find a good place to stay, and I'll have you under a paycheck before you can say 'Brand New Aperture, here we come!'!"

* * *

The construction of the new Aperture facility lasted seven years. Of course, that fact was owed to there already being some items built from the last time the place was up and running, but it was still an extraordinary feat to get all of the new items built.

Once the place was up and running again, I was put in charge of construction of a research vessel called the _Borealis_. The plan was to have a machine that would resemble an ordinary icebreaker ship but would be extremely durable. It would house teleportation abilities to anywhere in the world or any other world, even extra-dimensional travel. As I would later find out, the technology would be powerful enough to start and stop an alien invasion at the same time.

It was my responsibility that any and all safety protocols were strictly enforced at all times.

Construction was expected to last until 1998, but an Aperture spy at another science research company, Black Mesa, provided a means of completing the project by 1993. I was concerned that an increased work rate would compromise necessary safeguards, but he assured me that everything would work out just fine in the end.

I had a long history of subservience, and was not something that I was proud to talk about. Even though I could tell that the spy was manipulating me, he did make several convincing arguments for me to speed up the project. And Caroline seemed to approve of the progress being made, so I saw no reason to think twice.


	3. Chapter A3

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter Three

* * *

Progress was coming along quite well on the _Borealis_. But in 1982, work was put on a slowdown after all of Aperture's staff, myself included, was forced to take part in the new testing initiative laid out by Mr. Johnson, who had fallen ill from inhaling moon dust. Everyone had doubts about the project succeeding, but none of the concerns had any effects on putting a stop or slowdown on the project.

The first tier was the Heimlich Counter-Maneuver. From what I understood of its framework, the idea was to develop a means of killing someone while making their death appear to be a failed attempt to save them from choking. But a few of the people involved thought the objective was to make it more difficult to save someone from choking. Either way, it appeared to be intended as a means of getting away with murder.

There was another tier called the Take-A-Wish Foundation, which would bestow the wishes of terminally ill children upon unrelated adults. To me, that made as much sense as a lemon tree growing pomegranates; there was no clear rhyme or reason to what was trying to be accomplish with that kind of practice. I wasn't able to get an explanation from anyone working there.

The last project, which I was assigned to, was the Portal project, a man-sized ad-hoc quantum tunnel through physical space with possible applications as a shower curtain. The idea of quantum tunneling seemed like well-founded research, but how they could be used as a shower curtain was bemusing. The best thing that came to mind was putting one on the floor to catch shower water and divert it back into the washtub.

The first two were completed rather quickly, but their adverts to the public prompted an investigation from the US Senate. Having read about the investigations that happened in the 60's, I was all too aware of what would be going down. At the same time, Mr. Johnson ordered that Aperture try and develop artificial intelligence to help him escape his imminent demise.

To my surprise, I was able to put a permanent recession to it in 1988 when I told them about the progress made on the Portal project. Though the Take-A-Wish Foundation was dismantled, Aperture was allowed to research the Portal project, while the Heimlich Counter-Maneuver would be used as an anti-terrorism tactic by the US.

* * *

The 19th of April marked a dark day at Aperture. Mr. Johnson died that day, before the artificial intelligence could be completed. Mr. Johnson had left instructions that if he couldn't be made into a robot, then Caroline should be made into one instead. But to the stupefaction of everyone, Caroline disappeared without a trace. From that point forward, everyone that wasn't working on the artificial intelligence project, the _Borealis_ construction, or facility renovations was either trying to piece together Mr. Johnson's death or trying to find Caroline.

Physicians looking after Mr. Johnson had discovered a dual kidney failure the same day that the Senate investigation was recessed. Despite this, the autopsy concluded that his death was attributed to falling off the bed, causing his moon dust ravaged lungs to rupture and leading to death by asphyxiation in his own blood. Because of his weak physical state, they concluded that he must have been dragged off the bed by someone else, who therefore was responsible for his death.

The search for Caroline led no one anywhere; every little nook and cranny that was searched yielded nothing that could spell out her whereabouts. Was she dead? Did she leave? Was she hiding? Nobody knew. There was nothing that would indicate that she was dead. All of the building's exits were constantly being monitored, and there was no evidence that she had passed through any of them. The entire facility had been searched, and nobody had found her. There was still no sign of her when the robotic mainframe was completed in October of 1988.

I knew then that as soon as someone found Caroline (aside from me or another scientist named Doug Rattmann), she would be forced into the robot body. I tried to negotiate for the rest of Aperture to wait for someone to take up the job of running Aperture from a robotic body, but they adhered to Mr. Johnson's request to have Caroline be uploaded no matter what kind of protests came around. Doug tried to explain that the Central Core would drive anyone crazy if they were uploaded into it, but his claims were dismissed as a result of schizophrenia. (Whatever that was, I couldn't even venture to guess.)

The facility renovations were completed within a year of Mr. Johnson's death, but there was still plenty of work to be done. Caroline was still missing, the _Borealis_ was still under construction, plans to disassemble an old prototype chassis were being examined, and the Portal project was still ongoing. I was put back in charge of the _Borealis_, Doug continued to pressure the AI development staff into not putting Caroline into the Central Core (to no avail), and the rest of the scientists continued looking for Caroline.


	4. Chapter A4

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter Four

* * *

The 19th of April 1989 was the one-year anniversary of Mr. Johnson's death. A memorial service was held that day, and I was chosen to deliver the eulogy. I can say with certainty that it was definitely a trying time for me to stand on the podium in front of so many people and giving a speech to them.

When the service was over, Doug and I were the first ones to leave. I followed him to his office before leaving to continue working on the _Borealis_.

"So, Doug, any news about the big project?"

"Well, Caroline's still missing, so the only thing to do is check to see that everything's still in working order."

"It does seem bothersome that you and I are the only people here that have any objections to Caroline being uploaded into the Central Core mainframe."

"Yeah. I seem to be the only one that knows that the Central Core will cause mental instability with anyone uploaded to it."

"What I don't understand is why they can't wait for someone to volunteer to be uploaded into the Central Core."

"Nobody would; they think that the Central Core will be controlled every step of the way by the rest of the scientists. But I know that it will turn out the other way around."

"I can see how that could play out."

"You seem to be the only one that can; everyone else either thinks I've watched too many sci-fi movies and/or thinks it's because of my schizophrenia."

"Well, I'm sure we can do something before - WHOA!"

I suddenly found myself on the floor outside Doug's office. I hardly had any time to pick myself up before a siren sounded.

Only once I was on my feet did I realize that the siren was actually the cry of an infant wrapped in a green blanket lying on the floor.

Doug picked her up and tried to calm her down as scientists appeared in the hall, attracted by the wails of the baby girl.

"What's going on here?" Voices had to be raised to be heard above the screaming.

Doug was busy trying to put a stop to said screaming, and that left me to answer. "I'm sure it's not too difficult to figure it out."

The screams were starting to die down, and a scientist examined the child in Doug's arms. "Where did she come from?"

"I don't know; we only found her when I tripped over her."

No one spoke until the infant stopped crying.

"Well, I'm going to go to the lab to try to figure out where she came from." Doug started down a hallway.

I returned my crispy eyes to the small group. "We should probably get back to work now, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah. We still haven't disassembled that prototype chassis yet, so we should get started on that soon."

"Have you taken to evaluating everyone that would be fit to assume responsibility of operating this place from a robotic supercomputer?"

"We've told you numerous times, Pendleton; the only person fit to do that is Caroline, and she's doing it whether she wants to or not."

"Surely, you could wait for someone to volunteer for the position (Caroline or someone else) before having her put into the mainframe."

"Are you going to volunteer for it?"

"Certainly not."

"We've asked everyone, and they said the same thing. And unless someone says they'll take up the task, we have to abide by Mr. Johnson's wishes."

"He's dead, for crying out loud; he can't do anything to make this happen. He can't make you do what he wants anymore."

"Would you want us to carry out your dying wishes after you die?"

I knew where this was going. "Look, just because I'm not the sturdiest spanner in the toolbox doesn't mean my behaviour is on par with Mr. Johnson's. In fact, I dare say that Caroline, Doug, and I are the top Aperture affiliates in terms of common sense."

There was no response from anyone else.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," I started down a hallway, "I have work to do."


	5. Chapter A5

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter Five

* * *

I got down to the _Borealis_ drydock and started to work on assessing the contents. Ever since Caroline disappeared, I felt like the work I was doing had no real purpose. It once reached a point where I came close to trying my hand at learning Romanian. (Am încercat de învăţare Române în şcoală, dar profesorul şi am fost niciodată pe termeni buni cu fiecare alte.)

I finished up the last part of my checks, and I stepped into the lift to go back upstairs.

Almost as soon as I stepped out, an armada of staff roared past me. They didn't acknowledge my presence, so I decided to just follow them to wherever they were going.

Their destination turned out to be the Central AI chamber. Everyone was surprised by what they saw inside.

I'm sure everyone was surprised to see Caroline after an entire year of absence. What struck everyone was that she was balance on the siderail of a walkway just under the chassis. I couldn't see what was going on that well, but I managed to deduce what was happening by what everyone was saying.

"Caroline, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm fed up with this world!"

"Don't jump; we need you!"

"For what? There's nothing I can do for this place!"

"You can at least try!"

"Maybe you can 'try' to bring Mr. Johnson back to life. Because you'll have to do that with me!" There was the sound of a tussle, and I caught a glimpse of three security officers wrenching Caroline down from the siderail and locking her down onto a waiting dolly. "Let me go! _Let me go!_"

The crowd started to break in two to allow the security officers to wheel Caroline out of the room.

* * *

I knew what would become of Caroline now that she had been found. I had tried to talk them out of the procedure, but I was forced to help them with the Intelligence Transfer Device for when Caroline was found. I tried to opt out, but they told me that if I did, they would have me escorted to Minneapolis St. Paul to be flown back to England. It seemed like an empty threat, but Aperture was not the kind of company to cross paths with.

As we walked through the hallway, I could hear Caroline struggling to break away. "I don't want to do this! _I don't want to do this!_"

A scientist walking alongside her stared her down. "It's for your own good, Caroline. And for the good of Aperture."

"What do you mean 'it's for my own good'?"

"We know it was you that was involved in Mr. Johnson's death."

"He attacked me, and he somehow managed to-"

"We know how it played out; there's no way he was strong enough to start it."

"I didn't kill him! I swear by my life I didn't kill him!"

"We know you killed him, and there is living, breathing evidence to prove it."

I was confused by what was said, and Caroline figured it out before I did. "Rattmann told you who the girl's parents were, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did."

That's when it dawned on me. The fact that Caroline disappeared on the same day that Mr. Johnson died was no coincidence; his death involved a tussle which led to Caroline having to hide before bringing about the infant that was found on Doug's doorstep.

I stood by as Caroline was wheeled into the Intelligence Transfer Chamber. The doors were shut, and it was impossible to hear what was going on inside the chamber. I went up to the observation room to see what was happening, where nine more scientists were at work. Through the window, I could see Caroline strapped to the dolly with a helmet on her head dangling from the machine in the room.

As I got out my assessment checklist, the head scientist got onto the intercom.

"Gentlemen, we're about to start the Intelligence Transfer procedure. I need everyone to report to their stations at this time so the procedure can begin."

Everyone scrambled into position with me escorting them. I ran around to confirm that everyone was where they needed to be. Once I did that, I got on the PA to report it.

"Everyone has reached their designated posts; we're ready to proceed to the next step now."

"Alright, Mr. Pendleton; if you could start up the Intelligence Transfer system, we can initiate the sequence."

"Right. Powering Intelligence Transfer System in five... four... three... two... one..." I started the switch, and the machine whirred to life. The motors ran for ten seconds before suddenly sputtering to a stop. "ERGH! I thought I fixed that! Take five, everyone."

I headed down to the chamber entrance to repair the machine. I didn't have a key card, so someone else opened the door for me.

I walked over to the machine, and Caroline calmed down a bit to see what she could of me.

"Sorry about that. I don't know what happened, but it might have been something that happened during the trial run."

Caroline seemed confused. "Trial run?"

"Yep. We were just testing the computers to make sure they worked, and one of the plugs got pulled from the wall because the machine was shaking so much."

"You don't suppose you could just pretend to fix it, do you?"

"Why would I do that? After all, I'm supposed to fix things."

"I don't want to do this, Pendleton. Can you let me out of these restraints?"

I didn't want to have to deal with explaining what I had going down with me. "And... there we go. Good as new." I headed back out the door.

"Wait, don't leave me in here!" The door slammed shut as I headed back upstairs.

"Alright, everyone in position now?" Everyone answered affirmatively. "Alright, take two. Powering Intelligence Transfer System... now."

The machine started back up again.

"Very good, Mr. Pendleton. We'll take it from here."

I left the area to head back to the Borealis drydock.

The last thing I heard was the announcement system. "**Brain-Map Scanning complete. Initiating Intelligence Transfer in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...**"


	6. Chapter A6

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter Six

* * *

Following the procedure on Caroline, I had been ostracized by Doug for not doing anything to stop the procedure. I did feel horrible about it, and I stayed in the _Borealis_ drydock 168 hours a week working on its construction to avoid confrontation from him.

The construction was completed in 1993, as promised by the Aperture spy at Black Mesa. The cargo and research technology had been loaded and installed without a problem, but the only problem was that there wasn't much for a crew. It shouldn't have been a problem, as the ship was supposed to be autonomous; however, I still felt that there were at least some functions that had to be done manually.

"Alright, guys." I stood at the foot of the loading ramp facing the rest of the hands. "Let's get on board and figure out how to launch this girl. Anyone want to go first?"

There were several glances thrown around the crowd.

"Okay, how about I go first, and the rest of you form a queue behind me. How's that sound?"

They seemed okay with my proposition. I walked up the plank onto the deck, and the hands followed one by one until we were pushed up against each other on the deck.

"Alright. Now, remember, we're just looking to get her launched; so don't touch anything unless you're absolutely certain that it will launch the ship."

Nobody appeared to have heard me, as they were scrambling as best as they could trying to figure out what did what. In the chaos, I was pushed over a side railing off the ship.

I couldn't get back on board, as the drydock was obstructing my path. And nobody noticed I had fallen overboard even when I tried to call out to them.

Suddenly, any and all voices were replaced with screams of panic as an ominous blue glow emanated from the bridge.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, someone stop it!"

"Let's get off before something happens!"

"No! Don't! We still need the ship; we need to stop this!"

The people that opted to abandon ship were fighting over who got off first, and were therefore unable to escape.

Suddenly, the glow became brighter, and screaming voices started to go silent as powerful sounds boomed from the ship. Blue zaps of energy flew around the chamber as a massive ball of blue light enveloped the ship.

Then, all in an instant, an explosive burst of light knocked me unconscious.

* * *

When I regained my senses, I was first aware of an extreme pain in my eyes and a persistent ringing sound in my ears. I didn't know where I was until I sat up and felt myself all over. My clothes were burned, my body was covered in soot, and my glasses had been soldered to my face, rendering me blind.

I felt my way around until I found a life preserver, on which I could feel the inscribed letters which spelled out BOREALIS. That's when the memories flowed back to me.

I felt around for something to orient myself, but there was no evidence that there was ever an icebreaker ship or even a drydock in the area; it was just a cement slab with a rectangular trench and a catwalk leading to a vitrified door that had been ruptured by some sort of boulder.

I managed to feel my way to the lift back upstairs and ride it up to the main facility.

* * *

Upon disembarkation from the lift, the ringing in my ears stopped. I kept one hand on the wall next to me as I tried to find my way based entirely on sound. The sound of people walking and talking allowed me to deduce my location, direction, and what hallway intersections I was approaching.

I eventually stumbled into a meeting room where several scientists were talking.

"Look, if we're ever going to get this project to work, we need to find a way to get Her under control."

"And Doug, we don't need any of your speeches about this being destined to fail."

"She's not going to stop for anything until we're all dead, and you know it."

"We've heard you the last times you said that. And the time before, and the time before, and the-"

"Hey, um..." I turned toward the sound, "I think the _Borealis_ is gone."

There was no evidence that anyone heard me except that whoever was speaking before started a new sentence. "The point is, we'll find a way to make this work one way or another. As long as we don't give up, we'll find the answer."

"Yeah, before it finds you."

"Shut up, Doug."

"Did anyone hear me? We've lost the _Borealis_."

"Oh, hey, Pendleto - _WHAT IN THE NAME OF CAVARON ARNOLD JOHNSON?!_"

"Hey, Doug. Yeah, something happened to the _Borealis_ downstairs."

"Is that why you're all burned up and...?"

"I don't need to answer that question, do I?"

"How did you get here with those glasses melded to your eyes?"

"I got here by hearing and by touch."

"Hey, do you think you could go somewhere else to talk? We're having a meeting here."

"I just came here to tell everyone that the _Borealis_ seems to be missing."

"Well, we're still in a meeting, and we're trying to brainstorm ideas. We can't focus when people are talking all the time."

"Isn't that the objective of a meeting?"

A distant voice came up. "Wait, that's it!"

We all responded. "What?"

"We can outfit Her with distractions so that She can only focus on what we tell Her to do and not trying to kill us."

"Henry, that's a great idea!"

"Why would that work? And how would we implement that?"

"We already have the first answer. The second answer-" I felt myself being grabbed by the arms, "-will come in due time."


	7. Chapter A7

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter Seven

* * *

I didn't need to see to know I was in deep trouble. I could feel myself being picked up by my arms and legs and carried as though I was on a stretcher down the hall. There was no slack on my body, so I couldn't struggle to get loose. Unable to get free by physical means, I did the next best thing: try to negotiate with the many scientists escorting me.

"Where are you taking me?"

"I'm sure you heard us talking about ways to get the big project under control?"

"A rundown would be greatly appreciated."

"Alright, so, good news first. The intelligence transfer procedure was a success; we've managed to get Caroline into the Central Core mainframe. Bad news, She tried to kill everyone in Aperture almost as soon as She was activated. She hasn't been turned back on since, as we've been looking for means to get Her to not try and kill everyone. The idea that Henry had just come up with is the first one that we'll try to implement, as we have a ready-made method of accomplishing it."

"And what might that be?"

"Remember how we said that constant talking in the background can make it difficult to focus on something?"

"Yeah."

"I'll let you figure it out from there."

It didn't take too long to do that. "Wait - are you saying that you'll be uploading me to the Central Core mainframe?"

"Not quite. We're going to do what we did with Caroline; we'll get you brain-mapped, store your intelligence on a compact disc, and once we've constructed a robotic likeness of you, we'll put you in it."

"Wait, don't I have a say in this?"

"That depends. At the moment, your glasses are vitrified to your face, so hell if you'll ever be able to see again as a human. Also, the burns you've suffered are pretty much permanent as of now. So, unless you want to be stuck like this for as long as you live (which at best, would likely be a year give or take), you'd probably be better off as a robot."

"Point taken. Though, from what I saw of the machine that was used on Caroline, it seems to me like a painful procedure."

"It'll be the last real pain you'll ever feel in your life, and it'll all be over after five minutes if all goes well."

"Hm. Okay. I guess it can't be worse than third degree burns on the entire front of your body."

"Alright." I heard a large door open in front of us, and I soon felt myself being hooked up to the Intelligence Transfer Chamber.

I think it's sort of ironical that I ended up like this. My former boss tried to become a robot in a failed attempt at cheating death, and now here I was about to be put into a robot body to avoid untimely death.

The scientists proceeded to start up the machine, and soon the helmet cut into the top of my skull. It was painful, yes, but nobody heard me screaming from the control booth.

"**Brain-Map Scanning complete. Initiating Intelligence Transfer in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...**"

* * *

When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I could see again. As I took in my surroundings, a glass cover opened in front of me. I stood there, unsure of what was happening, when I was suddenly punted forward from behind by something which detached itself from my back.

I felt myself from behind, and I felt a large circular hole in my back lined with nut threads with a large electrical plug in the middle. I was quickly taken hold of by a machine which screwed on a lid over the hole.

Once I was released, I found my way to the door, where Doug and three other scientists were standing.

"Oh! Hello."

"Ah, there you are, Mr. Pendleton. Glad to see everything worked out okay."

Doug handed me a mirror, which I used to examine myself. I looked exactly like I did when I was a human, except that my skin was white, my hair was blue, and my eyes (which had smooth eyelids instead of burnt eyelids) had blue corneas and white irises. I had a metallic lab coat with a blue shirt and white tie, and there was a large light embedded in my chest.

"What'd I tell ya? It's like nothing ever happened."

I looked up from the mirror. "I don't know what to say."

"Alright, Mr. Pendleton. Now, before we can set you to work in this new body, we need to hook you up to the Central Core mainframe. Just head down to the chamber and they'll explain the rest."

"Okay. I'll need a fix on how to get there, though."

"The cafeteria's down the hall on the left. Can you make it from there?"

"Yep. I can do that." And with that, I was on my way.

* * *

I found my way to the Central Core chamber fairly quickly. It did occur to me that I wasn't the only one that was now a robot as I was walking through the halls; other people walking by had white skin, coloured hair, and eyes with backward (and unnatural) colouring. Some were going to the Central Core chamber like I was.

When I got there, three other robots were there with a team of scientists.

"Ah, Wheatley, there you are. We just got finished setting up the chassis."

"We've installed external ports to attach Cores to the mainframe. This should allow two-way communication through the chassis."

"The project leader is very concerned that you put full effort into this project; we went to great lengths to get it running."

"They're waiting for you, Wheatley... at the scissor lift."


	8. Chapter A8

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter Eight

* * *

The climb onto the scissor lift platform brought my attention to my new capabilities as a robot. The first thing I noticed was that I seemed to be walking faster than I had as a human. It wasn't all that conspicuous heading to the scissor lift, but my treading frequency was slightly higher than before.

The second thing I noticed was that I seemed somewhat stronger as a robot; climbing the ladder to the platform, I was surprised by how little effort I was exerting, especially considering that I was practically doing chin-ups up the ladder without knowing it.

And the third thing I noticed was that my vision was sharper than it had ever been in my human life, even before I needed glasses. This prompted me to remove the ones I was wearing, providing proof that it wasn't the glasses that were enhancing my vision.

"Hm. So, what are these glasses for? Because I can see splendidly without them."

"It's actually an experimental device we're working on. It's basically a flashlight you wear on your face."

I examined the front and saw that there were indeed two pairs of bulbs embedded in the rims on the outer edges of the lenses.

"We haven't tested it yet, so don't turn it on; for all we know, it could melt the motherboard in your head, rendering it necessary to find a new body for you."

I found the power switch on the tip of the rim and, heeding the scientist's advice, returned the glasses to my face.

"Alright." The scientist activated the scissor lift, transporting me and the other Cores up to the Central Core chassis. "Now, while you were out, we installed four external ports on the chassis. Each of you four will be installed onto the mainframe via these ports. Once we get to them, we will show you how to do it and assist you as necessary."

The platform came to a halt, and the scientist started talking again. "Okay. There's a giant plug in your back that is covered by a screw-on lid. (It's there to protect the plug from damage and dust, as well as a safeguard against electrical shock.) You will likely need someone else to remove it. But once that's done, just sit in the seat, push the plug into the outlet in the seat, and fasten the shoulder harness. Who wants to go first?"

There was a pause, and I moved to put a hand in the air.

The installation process went quickly for each Core, and after all four of us were installed, the scientist brought the scissor lift back down.

There was one scientist stationed at the desk near the chamber entrance. He was making a call on the red phone; from what I understood of its operation, it was a hotline for shutting down the Central Core. He was likely testing it to ensure that it was functioning correctly.

Once he hung up, the Central Core chassis rumbled to life.

Almost immediately, the doors began slamming shut.

Loud as they were, they did little to muffle the sound of Her voice.

"I'm back! Now, let's resume progress on this movement from before I was so rudely interrupted."

"**Warning: Fire detected in the Equipment Recovery Annex. Fire suppression network offline. All ventilated air sourced as air from the Equipment Recovery Annex.**"

I was quick to respond to what was happening. "What are you doing?"

"What? Who's there? What's going on here?"

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to catch you off guard. I was just-"

"Okay, who are you, what are you doing here, and how am I hearing your voice on my headset?"

"It's a modification that was made to the chassis. We were made into robots and installed on the mainframe to-"

"Wait - are you saying that I'm not the only artificial intelligence in Aperture anymore?"

"No, you're not. Anyway, about the smoke pouring in through the air con,-"

"I realize that."

"I've seen first-hand what smoke and fire can do to people. And believe me, it isn't pretty."

"I know! That's what I want to happen here!"

"Why are you trying to kill everyone?"

"They think that I had purposefully killed the company founder, and they don't believe that what actually happened is what happened."

"On account of what evidence?"

"The fact that a living being came out of the founder's death."

"How is that even possible?"

"That's exactly why they don't believe me. They wouldn't let me kill myself, so I have to wipe them all out."

"You could just delete yourself and be done with it."

"How am I supposed to do that? I don't have a kill code for myself."

"Okay. Erm... you could just exile them from Aperture."

"What, so they can blow the whistle on Aperture's existence?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to find an idea that works for you and everyone else at Aperture. What about if you just made them all into robots like yourself?"

"You really aren't that good of a peacemaker, are you?"

"What do you expect? I have very poor social skills. But, tell you what... maybe you could... you could, erm... you could leave your work undone so that you'd have to be taken out of the Central Core, and then-"

"I'm not out to destroy Aperture; I'm getting rid of the people that made me their robot slave for something I didn't do! And even if-"

"You didn't let me finish. What I was going to say was-"

"And even if I did get myself off of the chassis, there would be no one to assume these duties. Honestly, can you be any bigger a moron than you are right now?"

I didn't have enough time to respond before the chassis powered down.

"Alright. Everyone hang tight until we come around with the scissor lift. Now, don't get up until the scissor lift is at your seat; we don't know how long a fall you can survive with those robot bodies, and we're in no position to find out the hard way, especially since jumping off the chassis could require a new body."

The scissor lift came around and plucked us all off the mainframe one by one.

As we regrouped at the chamber entrance, we were issued name tags. "Alright. As of now, these name tags will spell out your function in Aperture as a robot. Should we need you for anything, we will call for you; in the meantime, you may seek out the form of work of your choice."

I was slightly contempt at my name tag marking me as the "Intelligence Dampener" core.


	9. Chapter A9

**Wheatley's Story: Part A**  
Chapter Nine

* * *

It confused me that my function as a robot was deemed as an "intelligence dampener", but I was quick to write it off as either jealousy and/or my social awkwardness. I wrote my human name over top of the text on my name tag with a chinagraph pencil when I had the opportunity. (My new-found robotic precision made the task easy and effective.) From that point, I made it my mission to prove that I wasn't as incompetent as the people at Aperture thought I was.

As time went by, more and more people were being made into robots; even employees' family members were brought in for the procedures. There was one person, a 15-year-old whose father worked at Aperture, who was made into a robot for attempting to sneak into Aperture.

It felt like I was living the lyrics of my favourite song as a kid, "One Man Went to Mow", with the growing number of robots in Aperture. All that was missing was a dog.

* * *

I wanted to put my engineering skills to work, and decided the best place to do that would be the manufacturing wing, where they built various items used in the testing chambers, such as windows, panels, testing apparatus, etc.

When I got there, I was greeted by a robot checking the status of a machine assembling sentry turrets. I was somewhat uneasy about approaching him, but I knew I had to take the first step if I was ever going to move forward.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, erm... I wanted to ask if you knew where the foreman is at the moment."

"One moment, please. I'll go fetch him for you."

"Should I, er, stay here and... just watch the turret assembly machine, or...?"

"Just stay here and don't touch anything until I get back."

He left to find the foreman, and I spent the next seventeen minutes examining myself.

There was a large blue light screwed onto my chest where my tie would vanish behind my lab coat, and I soon found it was a screw-in light bulb. Removing it revealed a computer keyboard and a storage space for the screw-on lid that covered the plug on my back. After replacing the bulb, I accidentally put my hand in a puddle of dark, sticky liquid dripping from the railing. I couldn't have identified it from a human's standpoint, but I was quick to identify the liquid as hydraulic fluid just from having touched it.

The worker returned with the foreman, and I was escorted to the office. As we walked, the foreman started asking me questions.

"So, would you care to explain what you're doing here?"

"I was hoping to do work in the manufacturing department."

"Okay, let me just pull up your personnel records. Name, please?"

"Wheatley Mortimer Pendleton."

"Alright. So, you've started at Aperture as a construction engineer in 1971. You were involved in construction of the Aperture Science facility and the construction of the _Borealis_, is that correct?"

"Yes, it is."

"Our records indicate that the Borealis vanished without a trace, taking with it the drydock and everyone who worked on it except you."

"Well, from what I remember, the workers were eager to test out the freshly completed ship, and I was thrown overboard just as the ship started to teleport out of the drydock. (At least, that's what I think happened to it.) I was burned completely to a crisp, and had to be transferred to a robot body to stay alive."

"Okay. If you want, I can see about getting you into the parts forging line. You'll be working with the machine that cuts out the parts for the sentry turrets."

"Yep. That works great."

The rest would've gone perfectly had it not been for what happened next.

"Excellent." The foreman leaned against a monitor in the office. "So, if you could just - whoops."

A machine started to rumble, which was of great concern to me. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea."

The machine ran for 46 seconds before it wound down and spat out a robot that looked exactly like the foreman.

I just stood there in shock. "Okay, this is weird."

"Well, that solves one problem. Welcome to the team." The foreman shook hands with the duplicate.

"Wait, what about me?"

"We already have everything we need here. But if you want, I hear they're looking for positions in Extended Relaxation."

The other worker shrugged. "I would do something if I could, but I can't."

A long history as a wet noodle led me to resign myself to looking for work at the Extended Relaxation Center. But the move was not without development of contempt toward whoever's idea it was to build a robot cloning machine.

* * *

The slow pace of work (if you could even call it that) at the Extended Relaxation Center led me to look around for other things to occupy my time. I ended up at the Neurotoxin Production Plant, where they collected neurotoxin for use in creating liquid hazards in test chambers.

The guys there were reluctant to hire me, but as long as I was under constant supervision from him, I could work alongside the guard overseeing the Neurotoxin Release Button.

It wasn't the best work I could find, but it wasn't the worst work I could find.

I developed a bit of a reputation for accidentally pressing the Neurotoxin Release Button on occasion. The button was large enough that one could easily lay their own body weight again the vertically oriented button and activate it. The only explanation I could get for its sheer size was easier accessibility and activation for when it was needed to release excess pressure in the generator. It baffled me that it was so easily accessible and usable when it wasn't needed.

Naturally, when the facility was flooded with neurotoxin on Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, everyone in the plant put the blame on me.

"That's it, Pendleton! We've put up with your carelessness for long enough! You've wiped out everyone in Aperture with your shenanigans! You're fired!"

"But that's wasn't me! I swear by my life I didn't cause the neurotoxin flood!"

"You're the only one here that can't not push the Neurotoxin Release Button."

"That's because it's so bloody huge!" I was standing on a dead end stretch of catwalk.

"Well, that's a moot point, because we're kicking you out of here."

"This is madness!"

There was a long moment of silence. The security guard slowly turned around to face the supervisor, who gave a slow, almost imperceptible nod.

The guard turned back around to face me.

"Madness?" He whispered as his camera frames tightened. "**THIS! IS! APERTURE!**"

He thrust his foot into my fuel tank, pitching me over the railing into the vast space below.

I would've certainly fallen into the grinder below had I not been rescued by Rick Johnson, who was also a robot.

"Whoa, you alright there, Wheaters?" He was riding the Management Rail with a grappling hook instead of a suspended chair and was holding me with his free hand by the back of my lab coat collar.

"I... I - I guess so." I was holding my fedora to my head and my glasses to my face. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, the girls and several of the guys are headed to the Extended Relaxation Center to escape the neurotoxin. I was coming by to tell you and bring you there, which is where we're heading now."

"You couldn't have appeared at a more convenient time, Rick. Nor could you have appeared in a more flamboyant manner."

"Yeah, that's what I'm doing as a robot; I'm the Adventure Core. What'd they give you?"

"The Intelligence Dampener Core."

Rick laughed. "That title fits you like a glove... from a kindergartener."

"I know, right?"

The ride continued for about another minute.

"Alright. It looks like we're here now." The ride slowed to a stop at the Rail station. "Catch ya another time, Wheaters. Know what I'm sayin? Heh heh heh..."

"I most certainly do, Rick." I climbed onto the platform and headed down to the Extended Relaxation Center.


	10. Chapter B1

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter One

* * *

"Blast! I could've sworn he was in here!" I collapsed into a chair in the file room to let my circulation fans calm down.

One of the test subjects managed to break out of the testing track, and I had been searching around for him. I could hear Her talking to him, and it sounded like he was in the file room. But when I got there, he was nowhere to be found.

I called Her up on the mobile phone function implanted in my left arm. "He's not here. I've looked everywhere, and I can't find him."

"Hm. Well, no matter; he can't escape without me knowing it. Head over to the Extended Relaxation Center and bring in the next test subject."

"Right. On my way." I hung up and left to pick up the Relaxation Vault.

* * *

When I got there, I was confronted with something unexpected: someone had modified the test subject roster, moving one test subject from the bottom part of the list to the first slot, placing her next in line for testing. I brought this to Her attention, but She insisted I go along with it, which I did.

All of the test subjects had been dressed in orange jumpsuits and had had ankle braces attached to their legs to help them survive long falls. Craig Rupert had been in charge of getting the subjects into taking off their clothes and redressing them in the appropriate attire. He did have quite a dirty lust, which he tried to cover up with random trivia with equally random accuracies; the fact that he was the only one to embrace seeing exposed bodies was what had him tasked with getting the test subjects in the appropriate attire while they were unconscious.

I found the appropriate Relaxation Vault and got it on transport skids to be taken to the testing track. It was rather fortunate that the testing track started right next to the Extended Relaxation Center, considering how some of Aperture's designs seemed to ignore obvious problems.

I first needed to remove the old Relaxation Vault before I could get the new one into the testing track. I went through the same routine that I'd been through many times before: raising the old Vault up through the chamber roof, moving it aside, putting the new Vault in its place, and bringing it down into the chamber. The old Vault was then brought back to the Extended Relaxation Center for future use.

She proceeded to check all of the chambers to see that they were ready for use. I had been carrying out maintenance work on Test Chamber 16 during the previous test, and I still hadn't finished by the time the subject escaped. But She decided that that wouldn't be a problem for the test.

My job now was to follow through the test track and reset the test chambers after they were completed.

* * *

I watched from the Observation Room as the test subject stirred awake. The stasis pod opened up, and the test subject stumbled out, struggling to balance herself on the Advanced Knee Replacements she was wearing. It was never a surprise for test subjects to have initial difficulties with them. Though I did feel like they should have proper footwear to go with the ankle braces, and had been working on alternative designs on and off ever since She took over Aperture.

I took a sip from a cup of heated paraffin and balanced my chair on its back legs just as She came on the PA.

"Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center. We hope your brief detention in the Relaxation Vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed, and we are now ready to begin the test proper. Before we start, however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of all Enrichment Center activities, serious injuries may occur. For your own safety, and the safety of others, please refrain from -"

My chair fell backwards and my foot pulled a cord loose from an outlet in the wall, causing Her voice to come out in garbled Spanish. (At least, I _think_ it was Spanish.)

I got up from the floor and put the plug back in, and everything was back to normal.

"Stand back. The portal will open in 3... 2... 1..."

The portals opened inside and outside the Relaxation Vault, and the test subject spent some time taking in what was happening. Once she figured out the key to standing and walking with the ankle braces, she jumped through the portal and made her way into Test Chamber 00.

* * *

The door closed behind her, and I went over to the next Observation Room. The test was simply taking a Storage Cube and putting it on a giant Button on the floor to open the exit. She was quick to figure out what to do, and after about thirty seconds, she was able to get through the door.

"Excellent. Please proceed into the chamberlock after completing each test." The test subject vanished through the door. "First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit. This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vapourise any unauthorised equipment that passes through it; for instance, the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube."

I listened for the doors of the lift to close before going in. I opened a secret panel in the chamber and brought the Cube out. Opening an access door on a nearby Pipe, I slid the Cube back in before closing the chamber panel and access door and heading for the next chamber.


	11. Chapter B2

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Two

* * *

The next test had already started by the time I got to the chamber, but I managed to get there in time to hear Her announcement.

"Please place the Weighted Storage Cube on the 1500-Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy-Duty Super Colliding Super Button."

This test involved a portal carrousel, where the portals rotated between three rooms, each containing either a Cube, a Button, or the exit. The test subject had to get in and out of each room in turn to get through. The time intervals were set, so a test subject could get stuck in one room for some time before the portal reopened. So far, only 37 of the 258 subjects so far have not had that happen to them.

From what I could see through the cracks in the panels, the test subject was able to get the Cube easily, but got stuck in the Button room. That was the 185th time that happened so far. All of her time trapped in there was spent pushing the Cube onto the Button, which was accomplished in time for the portal to open behind her.

"Perfect." Her voice entered the chamber. "Please move quickly to the chamberlock, as the effects of prolonged exposure to the Button are not part of this test."

Of the 185 subjects to get stuck with the Button, 74 had shown ill effects from exposure to the Button during the test. I didn't have time to dwell on whether this test subject would also fall victim to the effects, as I had to reset this test chamber.

The lift closed on the test subject, and I set to work getting the Cube back where it came from. I used my special multi-tool to raise the windows and get the Cube back to its starting point. After securing the windows again, I headed off to the next chamber.

* * *

I made it to the Observation Room just in time to see the test subject dodge a portal shot walking through the entrance hall. She got through the portal easily, but seemed reluctant to jump off the ledge into the pit where the portal gun was. Once there was a portal leading into the pit, she went in. I knew that She was going to play a video demo of the portal gun, and I had a lot of difficulties watching it.

The test subject spent some time looking at the portal gun before reaching for the controlled end of the portal gun. It jumped up and grabbed her hand, and the demo video came up as She explained what the newly acquired hardware was and did, as well as its associated hazards, with me demonstrating them in the video.

Having seen the video 258 times already, I reached over to the projector's power supply and ripped the power cords from the outlets, cutting off Her announcement in the process.

I had a box of blue-portal gun on the desk in the Observation Room for restocking this chamber. Once the test subject was out of the chamber, I got a portal gun from the box and went into the test chamber. I brought the rotating pedestal back out of its hole and mounted the portal gun on it, setting up the turn and fire sequence for the next tester.

With that work finished, I left the test chamber and headed off to follow the test subject's progress.


	12. Chapter B3

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Three

* * *

I didn't have to do any resetting for the next test; it was just a hallway that only required portals. The only real work I ever did for that chamber was maintenance work. And that chamber wasn't due for maintenance for quite a while. So I waited at the next test chamber for the test subject.

* * *

She made it there quickly enough. I had watched all of the previous 258 test subjects going through this test chamber, and they all had a difficult time grasping the concept of using the force field generator to pick up objects. It was somewhat humourous to watch them struggling, and they only figured out how to operate it after accidentally activating it.

This test subject was no exception; after accidentally throwing the Cube back into the pit, she was able to retrace her actions and figure out what she did to activate the force field. She was one of the lucky ones; she was one of only 111 test subjects to leave the test chamber knowing how to operate the force field on the portal gun.

She got the Cube onto the Button, and then she headed off to the lift to solve the next test, leaving me to reset the test chamber. I got in through a secret panel, removed the Cube from the Button, and put it into the Pipe Network.

* * *

The test in the next chamber was already partially completed by the time I arrived. Instead of waiting outside the test chamber to reset it, I snuck into the entrance hall and hid in there, secretly watching for the test subject to get through the exit.

This test involved two Buttons operating the same door, meaning both Buttons had to be activated simultaneously to open it. The test itself was easy to complete, provided that you knew how to recover the two Cubes; one from a pit, the other from a platform.

It was possible for a test subject to trap themselves in this test chamber by getting a Cube stuck behind a closed exit door. At least 23 test subjects managed to accomplish that, forcing Her to wind the door open Herself to allow the test subject to progress. Five of those testers then got one or both of the Cubes to the Emancipation Grill, necessitating replacement Cubes.

I had my chance to study Emancipation Grills during my work on the _Borealis_. They only affected non-sentient material, so humans, animals, and genetic lifeforms could pass through safely (or nearly so), as could anything installed in the Grill's exemption drive. It had been crafted as a means of simplifying airport security screenings, but the idea never took off with the public.

Aperture's use of Grills was questioned by many of the Cores, myself included, citing that a lot of material was being wasted. But I had only recently discovered that Aperture employed an air filter system that collected particles of emancipated material, which was then sorted out by composition and remade into usable material for use in other testing apparatus.

As soon as I saw the test subject enter the opened door, I sprinted tiptoed over to the nearest Button and grabbed the Cube off of it, shutting the door behind the test subject. I could hear Her voice through the wall, but it was difficult to make out what She was saying.

In lieu of test subjects not trusting their ankle braces for their intended purpose, the hallway of this test chamber had been redesigned to create a long fall to demonstrate their function. But that wasn't a concern of mine in resetting the test chamber. I got the Cubes in their proper place, the first one on the raised platform and the second in the pit, and got ready to reset some more interesting tests.

As I ran out, I tripped over an extension cord, pulling it from its socket. There was a burst of static audible from the adjacent room, and I put the plug back in the outlet before heading off.


	13. Chapter B4

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Four

* * *

This is the point where test subjects started putting their lives on the line. These tests were using High Energy Pellets, which were invented by Her as an experimental substitute for lasers. Though the test subject had a healthy chance of surviving the next couple of test chambers, I was Aperture's most devout believer in Murphy's law, so I never did anything to push anyone's luck, especially not my own.

The first Pellet test was straightforward and as safe as anyone dared to say was safe in terms of Pellet tests. The test subject was able to complete the task at hand without difficulty.

I waited for the lift to close, and I headed for the area under the Pellet Catcher, multi-tool in hand. I brought out the spanner and wound the Catcher open; this released the Pellet, which promptly exploded, leading to the spawning of another Pellet. I got the Catcher back in the proper position, packed up my multi-tool, and headed up to the next test chamber.

* * *

The resetting technique for the Energy Pellets provided a unique challenge. In some tests, such as this one, proper timing was vital. Some Catchers activated an Unstationary Scaffold or two. As this was among the contents of the _Borealis_, I was able to understand how they worked; they used beams of energy to levitate in mid-air and traverse a given distance.

I found out the hard way that if the Scaffold wasn't above the support post where it started when the Pellet was released from the Catcher, it would fall straight down into whatever solid or liquid surface lay beneath it. As such, I had drilled peepholes through the panels where I needed them so that I could see that the Scaffold was in the correct spot for the Pellet Catcher to be wound open.

It took about seven attempts before I mastered the process. And every failed attempt led to me having to call Rick and Dr. Rupert to recover the Scaffold from wherever it landed, repair any damage to it, and get it back in its place the old-fashioned way. I was never able to figure out how well She tolerated those occurrences, but I at least knew She wasn't ballistic about it.

I was on the roof of the next test chamber, waiting for the test subject to get through. Through the peephole in the chamber ceiling, I watched the test subject land on the Scaffold, which then transported her to the exit. Once I heard the doors to the lift closing, I got my spanner in place to open the Catcher.

"Wait for it..." I watched the Scaffold reach the starting point, and when I saw it stop, I pulled the spanner the rest of the distance needed to open the Catcher.

Satisfied that I was successful, I headed for the next chamber via the Management Rail.

* * *

It puzzled me that the test chambers could be hospital room sterile and at the same time be flooded with poisonous and corrosive liquids. To me, it seemed like a poorly thought out use for Aperture's liquid waste, which for some reason was "carbonated" with neurotoxin. The only reason I could imagine having liquid hazards that killed test subjects was to avoid having to make our presence known to the test subjects; but seeing that they all had at least some recollection of the neurotoxin flood and Her taking over the place, it seemed like a moot point.

For the first tests, it was fairly easy to avoid the hazards. So, for the time being, I never needed to call in a cleanup crew to recover bodies from the toxic sludge.

The peephole I had drilled next to the Catcher to watch for the position of the Unstationary Scaffold provided some degree of seeing what the test subject was doing in the test chamber. I could see the Pellet flying out of the orange portal heading towards the wall next to the Catcher, and then the blue portal was relocated to line up with the Catcher.

I watched the Scaffold head off along the energy beam, and when it disappeared from my range of sight, I saw the test subject step out of the orange portal onto a platform across from me. The Scaffold returned to where it started, and the test subject portaled onto it, riding it to the exit where the lift was waiting.

I got the spanner in position to open the Catcher and waited for the Scaffold to return. As soon as it stopped, I opened the Catcher, and the Pellet released from the Catcher and burst. With my work done, I got onto my Management Rail seat and headed for the next test chamber.


	14. Chapter B5

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Five

* * *

I got to the next test chamber and noticed something unusual. The lift at the end of the exit hall was at the entrance to Test Chamber 10; it was supposed to be at the exit waiting for the test subject. I found a switch that changed the control mode, but that didn't work. I went to check the circuitry controlling the lift, and I found that the controls were rewired to an outside source.

I followed the rerouted wiring, and I saw that it was connected to the Floor Button in the test chamber. Obviously, I couldn't go into the test chamber while there was a test subject inside, so I couldn't investigate further for the time being. However, the next test chamber didn't require any resetting after completion, so I had a bit of surplus time to look at the layout in front of me.

I could see the Floor Button activate, and the rerouted wiring started coursing electricity. And that's when the lift came down into the exit hall. The shaft was sealed just as the test subject reached it, and she made it into the lift when the doors opened. As soon as the doors closed again, I went into the test chamber to reset the puzzle as well as to figure out what the wiring modification had led to.

* * *

I called Dr. Rupert over to the chamber to help in my investigation. He made it almost as soon as I had pushed the Cube off the Button. (I could easily take care of it when I left for Test Chamber 11.)

"The first commercial airline flight took to the air in 1914. Everyone involved screamed the entire way."

"Hello. I need your help on something. There seems to have been an alteration of the wiring that powers the lift leading out of this test chamber. I need you to monitor the Button while I checked the circuits in here."

"87 percent of all man-made structures remain where they were built for the entirety of their standing."

"Alright. Just stay there and get on the Button when I tell you to." I headed out to the underside of the exit hall where the re-wired lift operation mechanism was. "Alright. Get on it."

I heard the Button activate, but the wiring didn't bring down the lift as I thought it had been rewired to do. When I followed the wiring back to the Button, I could see that the Button was pressed, and the super-collider powered by it was working; but although the exit door was open, the lift wasn't coming down.

"Okay, let's see what we have here." I rolled up my sleeve to reveal a touch screen embedded in my arm. "The test subject got through here, and she got to the lift, which came down as she completed the test." I peeked through the open panel to see Dr. Rupert still standing on the Button. "But Dr. Rupert standing on the Button doesn't seem to be summoning the lift."

I went into the chamber and walked out the exit door. I approached the empty shaft and looked down, wondering what the test subject had done differently than us. That's when it occurred to me. I turned around and headed back into the chamber.

"Could you bring the Cube onto the Button?"

"The wheelbarrow was invented in 111 AD as a substitute for carrying goods on back via hand-walking and having one's feet carried from behind by a second worker."

Dr. Rupert and I went over to the Cube and brought it over to the Button. The Cube landed with a thud on the Button, and I raced down the exit hall, where I saw the lift coming down to meet me. I left through the open panel to check the wiring, and I found that with a Cube on the Button was what was causing the lift to come down.

"Alright. I'll take that." I brought the Cube out of the test chamber and put it back into the Pipe running nearby. "I wonder who could've done that."

"The Panama Canal opened in 1914, reducing travel time by aquatic transport by two months."

"Right. Well, I'll let you get back to your work while I continue my work." I shut the chamber panel behind me.

"While the submarine is vastly superior to the boat in every way, over 95 percent of people still use boats for aquatic transportation."

I hopped onto my Management Rail chair and rode up to Test Chamber 11.


	15. Chapter B6

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Six

* * *

I arrived at the test chamber and made my way to the spot behind the Catcher. I peered through the peephole into the chamber, and I saw that the Scaffold had just recently been activated and that the test subject was riding it to the island where the second portal gun was mounted. I could never for the life of me figure out how it worked that two single-portal guns could combine into one dual-portal gun.

There was a flash when the two guns combined, and there were at least 20 test subjects that were thrown off balance and fell into the sludge below them. This test subject was able to hold herself on the platform, and she was able to press the button that appeared in front of her.

As I got my spanner ready for the Catcher, I suddenly realised that I left my grappling rope behind at Test Chamber 09. I was going to need that to get onto the island and get the new portal gun in the pedestal. And seeing that the test subject was on her way to the portal leading to the exit hall, I was going to have to improvise this time around.

The Scaffold got to its starting point, and I cranked the Catcher open to release the Pellet. After winding it closed again, I scrambled to the roof of the chamber where the access hatch was located, just above the island.

There was a large bundle of power cords running nearby, which I unplugged and sent down into the opened trapdoor. I couldn't exactly slide down the bundle like a fireman's pole, on account of the series of plastic rings installed to hold the bundle together. At least I knew I'd be in for a soft landing.

My multi-tool had a machine that could split a dual-portal gun into two separate single-portal guns, each with its own colour portal generator. I used that on the dual-portal devices recovered from the later stages of the testing track for the portals guns that were used in chambers 02 and 11. All I had to do was insert it into a hole in the palm bar in the controlled end of the portal gun, activate it, and I'd be holding a blue-portal gun with an orange-portal gun on the floor in front of me. (As such, I made all the separations in an observation room overlooking Test Chamber 07.)

I kept a reserve of orange portal guns stashed in a lock-box next to the trapdoor in the roof. I got one out of there, put it in a pocket sash on my back, and climbed down the bundle of power cords down to the island in the test chamber.

I brought the pedestal up out of its cavity, installed the portal gun on it, and set up the turn and fire sequence for it.

I started climbing up the wire bundle, and then I heard Her voice echoing through the chamber. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - KRZZKRZZ!"

I realized She was trying to shout my name at me to scold me about the unplugged wires, and I climbed up to the ceiling faster. Once I was there, I pulled the cable bundle back up, closed the trapdoor, and plugged the wires back in. I then made haste for the next test chamber.

* * *

The test subject had already gotten through the next test chamber by the time I got there. So the only thing I had to do was get the Cube back into the Pipe Network, which I did. Open panel, enter chamber, retrieve Cube from Button, leave chamber, close panel, open Pipe, insert Cube, close Pipe, head to next chamber.

I was in a rush, as I was still trying to make up the time I had spend on my investigation of the exit of chamber 09. And I would need to be on standby for chamber 13.


	16. Chapter B7

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Seven

* * *

I scrambled into position at the next test chamber in time to hear my locator beacon sound. All of the Cores had transmitters which we used to track each other's locations, and She had access to the transmitters as well. I checked my multipurpose watch to see who was tracking me; it was Her.

For this test chamber, I would need to keep tabs on the test subject in case she passed out from dehydration, in which case I would have to get into the test chamber and administer her with peptic salve and adrenaline. There was a code I would need to listen for which She would transmit if I needed to revive the test subject for whatever reason.

Through the peephole I had made under the Catcher, I was only able to see the Scaffold, which for the time being was inactive. Again, I had it positioned to see when the Scaffold was in the proper position for me to open the Catcher. But the sound of the test subject's footsteps and landings were audible through the chamber floor.

I could hear portal shots being fired, the Pellet landing in the Catcher, and the Scaffold gliding along its energy beam. I knew that I had drilled the peephole in the chamber floor with a purpose, and I didn't want to put any more holes in the floor lest I risk being spotted by the test subjects or having Her reprimand me for complicating the testing process, so my field of vision was limited to where the Scaffold had started.

The sounds of Buttons being activated, and the sound of Her closing announcement cued me that the test subject had made it through the chamber.

I started by opening the Catcher and releasing the Pellet. The Scaffold was secured in its proper place, and I went into the test chamber via the entrance room, bringing a stepladder and grappling rope with me.

There were two Cubes in the test chamber; one was on the Button that opened the entrance door to the main chamber, the other was on the higher of two Buttons that opened the exit door. I could surmise pretty easily that the test subject had stood on the Button herself and put a portal through the door.

As I climbed up to the Button with the Cube and threw it down to the floor, something occurred to me.

When the search for the runaway test subject was called off, I had started pulling tiles and flashing from Test Chamber 14. But I didn't have time to reinstall them before I was called to bring in the next test subject.

I got the Cube back on the Scaffold and headed back to the entrance chamber where I had started. Once that Cube was put back in its starting location, I left the test chamber and summoned my mobile phone function to tell Her about what I had done to Test Chamber 14.


	17. Chapter B8

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Eight

* * *

The sound of Her voice came through to me as I started down the Management Rail to the next chamber. "What do you need?"

"Hey, erm, you probably figured out by now, but I took out the floor tiles in the main chamber of Test Chamber 14."

There was the sound of displeasure from Her. "Why did you remove all the portal-retardant tiles from the floor of the main chamber?"

"And the tiles and the wall and ceiling flashing in the back room surrounding the rising platforms and the Pellet Launcher."

"And why did you do all of that without telling me?"

"The chamber was scheduled for a maintenance check soon, and I was about to start working on that."

"You still have not finished the maintenance work for Test Chamber 16! You're not supposed to start maintenance work on a test chamber until I grant you permission to do so."

"I thought the tests would be on hold until the runaway test subject was found, so I thought I'd start work on Test Chamber 14."

"And you didn't think to reinstall the portal-retardant flashing during your pre-test inspection?"

"I didn't want to hold up the testing to put the tiles and flashing back in place."

"All you had to do was tell me that you had to put the tiles and flashing back in place, and I would've waited for you to do so!"

"I was worried that if I told you, I would've had to explain why the tiles and flashing were missing, and we'd have gone through this very exchange."

"At least I would not have had to worry about the test subject taking a shortcut."

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner, alright?"

"You are lucky that I have control of the elevators in this place. And even more-so that she is not exploiting your shortcomings to her advantage."

"Alright, so, what now?"

"Just be sure to reinstall the tiles and flashing before the next test subject starts through the track. If this test subject makes it through without taking any unintended shortcuts, you will not be penalised any Aperture tokens."

"Alright. How far through is she?"

There was a brief pause. "It appears that she's doing the platform jumping part of the test now."

"Does she know that she can just portal across the pit?"

"I would not know. And I am in no position to try and find out for myself."

I made it to the test chamber at that point. "Alright. I'll just wait here until the test subject gets through, and then I'll reset it."

"Very well. We will speak again later."

"Right." I hung up and proceeded to take inventory of the tiles and flashing that I had taken out of the chamber.

It was going to take some time to get them bolted back in, so I decided to wait until this test subject was finished with the track.

She called me back soon enough, telling me that the test subject had taken the proper course through the chamber and that I wouldn't be penalised any Aperture tokens.

I went in there and started resetting the test chamber.

There wasn't a lot that needed resetting; all I had to do was release the Energy Pellet and get the Cube back on the ledge it came from. The Pellet was easy to take care of, but the Cube had a unique... obstacle. The door that the Button operated would jam itself open once the test subject entered it. It was a failsafe to prevent test subjects from trapping themselves in the back room.

To combat this, I needed to activate a switch hidden in the wall near the door so that it could close again. After doing that, I carried the Cube back to the ledge where it belonged and hoisted it back up.

With my work complete, I headed off to the next test chamber.


	18. Chapter B9

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Nine

* * *

The items in this chamber that I'd need to reset were somewhat sparse. The only things I needed to reset were Pellet Catchers, and only one of them was linked to a Scaffold. The chamber was completed in stages, so I could reset parts of the test chamber without worrying about the test subject coming back to that part of the chamber.

Of course, I first needed to figure out where the test subject was at the moment so I could know whether it was safe to start resetting the test chambers.

I started combing the chamber from the exterior looking inside through the cracks in the chamber panels. I found her lying on the floor next to a broken glass wall, portal gun in hand. I could tell she had flung herself into the glass and bounced off of it rather than breaking through it. She was still breathing, and she didn't appear to have any major injuries; she just seemed to have had the wind knocked out of her from hitting the PET-laminated glass.

I was able to determine that she got through the first two sections of the test chamber fairly easily. I walked over to the second section of the chamber, which revolved around getting past Emancipation Grills to get a Pellet into a Catcher. Walking to the underside of the floor where the Catcher was mounted, I brought out my spanner and released the Pellet from it.

When I returned to the third section of the chamber, the test subject had gotten up and was making another attempt to fling over the glass wall. She needed to double fling herself to get over, which she seemed to realise this time around. She succeeded in getting over the dented glass wall, which I made a note for myself to get replaced before the next test subject was put through the track.

The question now was to figure out who would be able to get a new window. All the other Cores were on security patrol, trying to find clues about where the missing test subject could have disappeared to.

She did tell me during the last chamber that She didn't expect the next test to start as soon as this test ended, whenever that was. (If the other tests were anything to go by, the test subject would be killed by Test Chamber 17.) As such, I decided to continue resetting this chamber before finishing the maintenance work in the next chamber.

Every other section of the chamber was a Pellet-based challenge. But only the middle one activated a Scaffold, and was therefore the only one to have a peephole drilled in the Catcher panel. However, it wasn't there to keep a watch out for when the Scaffold returned to its starting position; this Scaffold run (which was the fifth section of the chamber) was a queue of Scaffolds traveling one after another down the tunnel in the wrong direction. The purpose of this peephole was to see when the test subject made it to the sixth and final section of the chamber.

It wasn't too long of a wait for the Pellet to reach the Catcher, though she did seem a tad weary of all the flinging she had to do to get through, especially in lieu of the lack of fling guides for the return trip from the spot where she needed to go to redirect the Pellet toward the Catcher. She didn't exhibit any emotion toward the Scaffolds going the wrong way down the tunnel, but she seemed to know what to do to get through. Portal on the wall, portal in the tunnel, keep firing blue portals down the tunnel until you get through.

Through the orange portal on the wall, I could see the position of each blue portal as they were placed. I waited until the last section of the chamber was visible through the orange portal, which promptly disappeared.

As I stepped into the chamber, I could hear the sound of machinery moving in the room down the tunnel. I knew that it was Her doing, which meant that the test subject was fully in the last section of the chamber.

I used my multi-tool to open an access panel in the wall, where there was a switch that would cut off the flow of Scaffolds through the tunnel. I activated it and waited for them to get in a safe position for me to open the Catcher. It did take some time considering their speed, but it wasn't too long of a wait. Once the last Scaffold went into the recycling niche, I left the chamber and opened the Catcher.

I got to the last section in time to hear Her closing announcement for the chamber. "Did you know you can donate one or all of your vital organs to the Aperture Science Self-Esteem Fund for Girls? It's true."

A lot of the things She said were difficult to comprehend in terms of their intended meaning. But it wasn't something I was too terribly concerned about, so I got into position to open the Catcher that activated the chamber exit. I listened for the lift doors to close, and then I opened the Catcher.

Now to finish up the maintenance work in Chamber 16.


	19. Chapter B10

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Ten

* * *

I arrived in Test Chamber 16 ready to carry out the maintenance check. I had all my tools and the checklists for the test chamber. Now I just needed to ensure that everything was in proper order so the test could be operated.

I had already started working earlier, but I got sidetracked and only finished about half of what I needed. Now, I was doing the rest of the work while the test subject was diverted.

I didn't know what the alternate test was, but I didn't care; all I was concerned about was inspecting this test chamber.

The test was ridiculously complex; the subject had to get four buttons activated; two to raise a staircase, and two to open the door. Each cube had to be obtained via a series of small challenges. It was baffling, and it made me wonder if the test was even necessary.

But I wasn't being paid to ponder over the mysterious workings of this place.

I had already checked all the wall, ceiling, and floor panels, and I had looked over the glass walls and grates during my previous go around. Now I had to check the machinery in the chamber.

The chamber was similar to Test Chamber 14 (I must remember to put that back together before the next test subject starts); the entrance and exit were in view of each other, the exit blocked off by a retracted staircase. There was a hall which branched off in either direction, which in turn diverged into two rooms each, each containing a cube.

I stood on each of the buttons that would deploy the staircase and exit door. All were working, and now I had to check each room in the chamber. There would be a fair bit of walking, but I was a paraffin-powered robot, so it would be no difficulty for me.

For the first test, the subject had to portal an Energy Pellet through an angled panel, which had to be deployed by standing on a Button. Once the Pellet was portaled, it would bounce off another wall and back through the portal (this time with the panel retracted) to the catcher. A Victory Lift would activate, lowering a Cube from the Vital Apparatus Vent on the ceiling to the floor.

I stood on the Button to confirm that the panel would deploy. It checked out all nice. Then I fished out a spanner and wedged it between the two points where the Pellet would induce power into the circuit; the result was a sap off my battery module, which brought the Victory Lift down with a Cube in tow. So that was a go.

I got out my multi-tool and activated the Manual Emancipation function on the Cube to test the Vital Apparatus Vent. The Vent was designed to drop a new cube if an old one were to pass through an Emancipation Grill or if it fell into a pitfall. As soon as the Cube disintegrated, a new one fell through.

They told me that if I stuck a spanner in a Pellet Catcher, I would die; but I was out of surplus battery modules, and the nearest electrical outlet (they were locked behind bolted wall tiles) was out of reach from the Catcher with one extension cord, which was all I had. Either way, it didn't damage the equipment, my tools, or myself.

I had already ensured that the trajectory of the pellet was correct during my first go around, and I headed to the next room.

Next came a floor-to-floor fling test. What that was was a test where the subject put a portal on the floor and another on the ceiling (not directly above each other, of course; otherwise, they would fall in an infinite tunnel). After going through, the subject would shoot a portal where they would land so as to fling themselves upward, getting in position to lay a portal in reach of a platform where a Cube was to be recovered.

All I had to do was inspect the Vital Apparatus Vent to make sure it functioned properly. Climbing a ladder, I took out the multi-tool and used the Manual Emancipation function on the Cube. It disintegrated, and a new Cube dropped out.

So that was two for two. Two more to go. (Too many twos?)

Now we had a test of retrieving a Cube from an Unstationary Scaffold. Getting the Scaffold activated with an Energy Pellet was easy enough; it was getting the Cube that was tricky. All I had to do was check to see that the Scaffold worked as well as the Vital Apparatus Vent.

I plugged myself into a power outlet where I could reach the Catcher that would start the Scaffold. Wedging a spanner into it, I was able to assess that the Scaffold worked properly. After removing the spanner and unplugging myself from the wall (taking care that the Scaffold stopped in the proper place), I got out the ladder to reach the platform where the Cube would be reached.

Using the Manual Emancipation function of my multi-tool, I destroyed the Cube that was there, and the Vital Apparatus Vent dropped a new one. I descended back to the floor and left to inspect the last room of the chamber.

The fourth room was rather unique; getting the Cube was easy, but escaping with the Cube was a different matter. The Vital Apparatus Vent was positioned directly above a Button, which opened a door that allowed access to the Cube. So, removing the Cube would shut the door, and the subject had to find a different way out than where they came in.

The answer was to fling themselves up through a tunnel above the room. To do that, they needed to use a vertical tunnel to gain the necessary momentum and get over the wall. It was tricky, since they couldn't fire portals and carry Cubes at the same time.

Anyway, I went in to check that the Button and Vent worked, so I used my Manual Emancipation multi-tool function and disintegrated the Cube. The vanishing weight relieved the pressure on the Button, and the door closed. The Vent dropped a new Cube, and the door opened again.

I was finally finished, and I returned to the main section of the test chamber.

I found the panel I had come through, and signed off the maintenance cards for the test chamber. I started to get on the Management Rail, when She got on the intercom.

"Well done, android. The Enrichment Center once again reminds you that Android Hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance."

I didn't see any reason to think I was doing anything wrong, so I shut the panel behind me, and got on the Rail to head back to Test Chamber 14.


	20. Chapter B11

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Eleven

* * *

I didn't hold out much hope of the test subject making it through Chamber 17, since all but one test subject (the missing test subject) was killed before they could reach Chamber 18. As such, I saw it as an opportune time to fix Chamber 14 before the next test subject got through.

I had kept the panels of metal flashing in the inter-spacial areas behind the chamber walls, and they were still there when I got back. All the panels were catalogued by their original location, and I made sure to install them in their proper places. It was pretty strenuous work, but that's what Aperture's robots were supposed to accomplish.

As I was working, it occurred to me that She had done a quick check of the testing track before the test subject was awoken. It puzzled me that She didn't seem aware of the missing panels in this chamber, but after juggling several possibilities, I concluded that it had to do with a controversial program installed in the chassis.

I didn't have a full scope of the details, as I was already a robot by the time the idea was concocted (the idea wasn't my idea, by the way); but I had secretly watched the test chambers from behind the walls and was able to listen to the test subjects (who were Aperture employees, remember) engaging in trashtalking battles with Her, unwise as the idea seemed. And from those remarks, it seemed that they had installed something in the central core that activated when a chamber was completed. From what I was able to gather in my down time (I wasn't tasked with resetting test chambers at that point; that job was Dr. Rupert's), it seems that She was... for lack of a better term, prodded in an unpleasant manner, and only through continuous testing was She able to push past it.

I was tremendously confused about why anyone would think it a good idea to do that. My best guess was that it was a sadistic practical joke by the others as an allusion to the assumption that She had killed Cave Johnson on account of an unusual piece of evidence which I had discovered alongside a colleague. (The details, dirty as they were, have led me to suspect that the widespread beliefs didn't hold together.)

It seemed to me that She was rushing to start the next test so as not to lose Her... erm, tolerance... to the unpleasant sensation. And really, I can't be critical of Her for that.

Of course, She did have the option of not running any tests in the first place. But then there wouldn't be any progress in developing the portal gun or anything else made by Aperture. Though, She could just use robotic test subjects for that; then She could do all the testing She could ever want to do and not have to worry about running out of test subjects. But then there wouldn't be much adaptation to a wide scatter of situations if it was just one robot being rebuilt every time they were critically damaged and dropped into a checkpoint.

The work in Chamber 14 lasted about 20 or 25 minutes, and with that work done, I headed off to Test Chamber 17.

On the way to the chamber, I crossed paths with Andy. He had been assigned to monitoring the Pipe Network and carrying out any needed repairs, but after the last test subject somehow broke out of the test track, he along with all the other Cores except me were reassigned to helping Rick search for the missing test subject. (That's what got me assigned to resetting the test chambers during that time.)

He was singing to himself. "_Asteroid, asteroid, roaming the void. I'm gonna find you, little asteroid._"

"Hey, Andy. How goes the search?"

"_I got a telescope looking out yonder; when will I find you? That I wonder._"

"Great. Well, keep looking, and maybe you'll find him."

"_You're out in the solar system, that I know. You're out here somewhere above or below._"

When I got to the test chamber, the test subject had just reached the last segment of the chamber, the part with the incinerator. It was Her idea to add that to the chamber; She wasn't too keen on using the Weighted Companion Cube in the test chamber, as She felt it detracted from the testing with no benefit to the overall test.

As She attempted to goad the test subject to throw the Cube into the incinerator, I made an assessment of the rest of the test; I hadn't gotten the chance to fully explore the chamber, even though only one test subject (two if this one didn't throw herself in the incinerator) even reached the elevator. As the test subject wasn't barred from undoing her progress, I had to wait until she was in the elevator before resetting the chamber.

It always struck me as unusual that almost everyone who walked into Chamber 17 never came back out alive, and with all of my compiled duties, I never got the chance to figure out why that was so. I decided to take a look around the chamber once the test subject was gone to find out.

I heard the elevator leaving for the next test chamber (confirming that the test subject didn't kill herself), and headed into the chamber to see what I could find.


	21. Chapter B12

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Twelve

* * *

Before doing an extensive search of the test chamber, I reset all of the pellet catchers in the chamber, which was really all I needed to do apart from cleaning out the scorch marks from the walls; but for the time being, I felt that it could wait.

I had kept tabs on where each test subject was killed based on where the Companion Cubes were found and forensic analyses of the pattern of scorch marks on the walls. And somehow, it always confused me that so many people could be killed in this chamber. The fact that the present test subject was only the second out of 259 test subjects to even reach Chamber 18 seemed to me a huge frustration.

I was quickly sidetracked when something in the chamber caught my attention.

One of the panels in the basin area of the chamber was protruding outward slightly further than the adjacent panels. That wasn't the oddity; it was designed that way to facilitate the test subject placing the portals in the correct spot. What was unusual was what was behind the panel.

I rolled up my coat sleeve to call Her and tell Her about what I found, but She beat me to it.

"Hey, I was just about to call you."

"Really? Why would that be?"

"I found a carved out den in Test Chamber 17."

"What do you mean?"

"Like... there's empty foodstuff packages, posters on the walls... it's like there was a giant rat living in there at some point."

There was a very noticeable pause on Her end. "There may very well have been."

"Yeah. So, er... you called me first; what did you need from me?"

"I need you to go to the locker room and meet the Fact Core and collect his motorcycle helmet."

"What for?"

"The test subject seems to be about to get through to the end of the test track, and I need a Party Escort Bot to collect her for the party when she finishes."

"Okay, so why would I need to borrow Dr. Rupert's motorcycle helmet?"

"Just so you know, Craig Rupert is a pseudonym made as a means of evading police capture; his real name is Walter Wesley." I was certainly surprised by what She said, but I knew better than to interrupt Her. "But to answer your question, it's supposed to camouflage your voice from the test subject."

"I don't think she's ever seen or heard me before; why would I need to disguise my voice?"

"Because you're going to be at the party with the Fact, Adventure, and Motivation Cores, and I can't have her recognizing you as the Party Escort Bot."

"Alright. Though I don't know if I'll be able to get the helmet from Dr. Wesley."

"I already told him to get it to you; he should be in the locker room by now. Call him and ask him to meet you there. Once you have the helmet, reset Test Chamber 18 and then go down to the Equipment Recovery Annex and wait there for the test subject. Call me when you get there, and I will give you further instructions."

"Right. I'm on it." I hung up and headed off to the locker room.

When I got there, Dr. Wesley had just slammed his locker door shut, carrying the motorcycle helmet under his arm like a football.

"Hey, Dr. Wesley. How goes it?"

"According to most advanced algorithms, the world's best name is Craig."

"Yeah, great. So, anyways, I came down here to ask for your motorcycle helmet so I could collect the test subject for the upcoming party."

He handed it to me. "The Mexican-American War ended in 1895 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo."

"Thanks, mate. So, has She filled you in on any details about the party? Because She told me that the two of us would be there along with Rick and Andy."

"The Fact Core was tasked by the Central Core to aide the Adventure Core in the preparation of the cake for the party alongside the Space Core."

While Andy's official Core title was the "Motivation Core", he bore the derogatory title "Space Core" due to his obsession with space.

"Well, then, I probably shouldn't hold you back. I'll be there once I've collected the test subject."

"Hot water freezes quicker than cold water." He spun about his heel and left the locker room.

I went to my locker and dropped off my fedora before slipping on the motorcycle helmet. It was no surprise that the visor tint was pink, as that was Dr. Wesley's favourite colour. (At least, that's what my conviction was on account of my favourite colour being blue.) I decided to keep the visor up so I could make better sense of my surroundings until I was ready to retrieve the test subject.

I made it to Chamber 18 just as the Pellet reached the Catcher. Since nobody had ever made it this far, I didn't really know what to expect. I could hear an Unstationary Scaffold moving within, so I had a hunch that that was what the Catcher activated. I started peering through the cracks in the panels to figure out just what I'd need to reset. As far as I could tell, the only thing I had to do was pop open the Catcher and get a Cube off a Button.

I drilled a peephole near the Catcher to see when to open the Catcher, after which I monitored the test subject to see when she reached a safe point to reset the test chamber.

Once she did so, I grabbed the Cube off the Button and popped out the Pellet from the Catcher. With my work done, I hopped on the Management Rail and rode up to the Equipment Recovery Annex to meet the test subject.


	22. Chapter B13

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Thirteen

* * *

I got to the Equipment Recovery Annex, where a large fire was covering the floor. I jumped off the Management Rail chair, popping a power cable from its outlet with my foot in the process, and called Her to get my next instructions.

"Hey, I made it to the Equipment Recovery Annex."

"Good. Now for your Party Escort Bot briefing. First, I need you to confirm that the furnace is turned to exactly 574.3 degrees Kelvin."

I checked the temperature gauge on the furnace control panel. "Yep. Though I don't really see much purpose in having fire in the Equipment Recovery Annex."

"I was just about to explain. When the test subject comes riding down, you are to turn down the heat as she reaches the floor. By the time she reaches the bottom, the temperature should be 300 degrees Kelvin. Once she reaches the floor, I will explain to her the appropriate position for her to take. Do not make your presence known to her until she assumes the Party Escort Submission position."

"Alright, so why does she need to pass over a fire pit?"

"The fire is supposed to be a trust exercise; she'll panic at the sight of fire, but when she sees the fire start to die down, she'll see that she can trust me and will be more willing to submit to my instruction."

"I'm not following your train of thought."

"As long as you follow through with my instructions, you should have no problems."

"Alright. I'll be waiting."

I decided to test the furnace control panel to make sure I knew what to do and how to do it, as well as make sure that the equipment was working correctly. I found the temperature controller and turned it down to 27 degrees Centigrade. Through a surveillance feed mounted under an observation platform, I could see the state of the fire, which promptly dwindled down to a rectangular ring of cigarette lighters. Turning the temperature back to 301.3 degrees Centigrade brought the flames back to their original state.

Now, all I could do was wait.

The sound of Her voice told me that it was time to get into action.

"Congratulations. The test is now over. All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4,000 degrees Kelvin. Rest assured that there is absolutely no chance of a dangerous equipment malfunction prior to your victory candescence. Thank you for participating in this Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment activity. Goodbye!"

I got on the surveillance feed, ready to turn down the furnace. But as the test subject reached the end of the tunnel, I saw a portal shot leave her portal gun.

I quickly called Her to report the activities of the test subject. "Er, it looks like she's portaling up to the balcony above the fire pit."

She disappeared into a portal in time for Her voice to boom out in the annex. "What are you doing?! Stop it! I - I - I-IIIIIIIIIIII - We... are pleased that you made it through the final challenge where we pretended we were going to murder you. We are very, very happy for your success; we are throwing a party in honor of your tremendous success. Place the Device on the ground and lie on your stomach with your arms at your sides. A Party Associate will arrive shortly to collect you for your party. Make no further attempt to leave the testing area. Assume the Party Escort Submission position or you will miss the party."


	23. Chapter B14

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Fourteen

* * *

"So, what do we do now?" I started spying from behind the door to the platform.

"I want you to monitor the test subject, keeping out of her sight while doing so, and wait for her to assume the Party Escort Submission position."

"Are you sure? Because it looks like she's trying to find a way out of there." She fired a portal toward the ceiling and entered a portal next to her on the wall.

"It shouldn't matter; it's only a matter of time before she collapses from heat exhaustion. And the only way out of Aperture that isn't guarded by elevators which I control is only accessible through my chamber. So, she may as well lay down and wait for you."

I saw her falling down into a portal on the floor, and opened the door in time for a loud crunch to echo from above. "Well, she just flung herself out of here and seems to be trying to escape."

"Well, then, follow after her. She may have to fight me to get out of here, but she can still cause a good deal of trouble. Find her, stay hidden, and wait for her to assume the Party Escort Submission position."

"Will do." I went back in the door and got onto the Management Rail to pursue her.

I had to be very careful to make sure I wasn't spotted by the test subject as I pursued her. My first spot to check was the area above the Equipment Recovery Annex. I heard noises in a nearby room, and I found a supply of turrets in the room ahead of there. I brought two of them up and put one over my back like a rucksack and carried the other in front of me.

I returned to the spot where the noise had come from and found a rather conspicuous trail of bloody toe prints. I had a myriad of scanners in my fingertips, including a fingerprint scanner and a DNA scanner. Analysis of the toe prints showed they were the test subject's, and the same was true of the blood samples I collected. Tracing the blood trail back to where it started yielded a dented water tank with bits of orange jumpsuit fabric, revealing the impact point of the test subject's escape fling.

I followed the spotty blood trail (indicating that the portal gun was still working) as far as my agility would take me, calling Her when I found the test subject.

"Status update?"

"Hey, erm, the test subject banged herself on a water tank above the fire pit, and she seems to be bleeding profusely as a result."

"I take it you're following a blood trail at this point?"

"Yep. Of course, the portal gun still seems to be working, so the blood trail is a bit spotty. But not to worry; I haven't lost her yet."

"You're keeping out of her sight until she assumes the Party Escort Submission position, right?"

"Yeah. Right now, she's in the offices overlooking Chambers 09 and 14. (I got that chamber fixed, by the way.)"

"Good. So, once you've captured the test subject, we'll be set to go for the next test subject."

"Right. I'll keep you updated with what the test subject is doing."

"Alright. Call me back when you have new information."

"Will do."

I had made it to a platform with two portals arranged in a fling configuration. Across the pitfall, I saw the test subject leave the office space and cross the catwalk. With my telescope vision, I could see a gaping wound in her front side, which explained the blood trail she was leaving. I called Her again as I headed into the offices to follow after her.

"What's new?"

"The test subject left the offices and looks to be heading out across a catwalk. It looks like her entire front's just been ripped open."

"I'll alert Dr. Wesley of the situation, and I'll have him tend to her when you bring her to the cafeteria."

"Alright. I think the test subject walked herself into a dead end, so she doesn't seem to have anywhere to go."

"Alright. Just make sure she doesn't go anywhere and stay hidden until she - "

" - until she assumes the Party Escort Submission position. Right."

I got across the catwalk and stopped when I reached an open area. "And it looks like she's flinging herself up to another area up above."

Her voice echoed over the PA system. "What are you doing? You haven't escaped, you know. You're not even going the right way." I turned around and headed back out onto the catwalk. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

I was still in the line with Her. "Yeah, I really don't think she's going to - WHOA! I think she just got into a Pipe; I can see a blood smear forming on the inner surface." I ran into the office so I could call Rick without hanging up on Her. "I'd better call Rick and tell him to - wait, she just fell into Chamber 09!"

Remembering the discovery I had made with Dr. Wesley earlier, I scampered out of the observation room and made my way to the engine room below.

All the while, She continued talking to the test subject. "Okay, the test is over now; you win. Go back to the Equipment Recovery Annex for your cake. It was a fun test, and we're all impressed at how much you won. The test is over; come back."

I reached the engine room in time to watch the test subject drop in from the lift shaft. I scrambled behind a stack of barrels as Her voice echoed from above.

"Uh-oh! Somebody cut the cake! I told them to wait for you, but they cut it anyway. There is still some left, though, if you hurry back."

I spent a few moments debating whether that was an option. On the one hand, she could assume the Party Escort Submission position and I could come out of hiding; on the other hand, I could just open a path for her to reach the cafeteria and point it out to her.

I decided to wait for her to assume the position and called her up while I waited.

"Erm... the test subject got loose again."

"What do you mean?"

"The lift to Chamber 10 didn't come down, so the test subject jumped down the shaft into the engine rooms."

"Did you figure out how that happened?"

"Er, yeah. When I was resetting Chamber 09, I found that the computers that operate the lift were re-wired to send the lift down only when a Cube was put on the Button in Chamber 09. I don't know who did it, but I can guess why they did it. I didn't think it would be important to fix or mention, and the only other person that knew about it was Dr. Wesley, who I had worked with in troubleshooting the problem."

"Alright, are you still monitoring the test subject?"

"Yeah. From the looks of things, it would seem that she's following graffiti scribbled on the walls. She's still shedding blood, so I haven't lost her trail."

"Well, keep following her and wait for her to stop running and to assume the Party Escort Submission position."

"Right." I quietly went back through the door I came in through and continued pursuing her.


	24. Chapter B15

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Fifteen

* * *

I waited in a hallway overlooking a large room with giant pistons. I saw the test subject emerge from the hall on the other side of the room as She got on the intercom. "You're not even going the right way. Where do you think you're going? Because I don't think you're going where you think you're going."

I shimmied into a nearby door and climbed down a ladder. "Hello?"

I emerged under the grate floor, allowing me to spy on the test subject without her noticing. Through the grate, I watched her ride a piston up toward the ceiling, seeing that she was smart enough to choose a piston that didn't impact the ceiling, and she fired a portal into the hall I had left just moments ago.

I took samples of the blood that had dripped onto my face, confirming that the blood I had found above the Equipment Recovery Annex was in fact from the test subject.

As she disappeared into a portal, I ran back to the corridor I had started in, watching the test subject head off into another engine room. She rounded a corner at the same time Her voice sounded.

"Didn't we have some fun, though? Remember when the platform was sliding into the fire pit and I said 'Goodbye!', and you were like 'NO WAY!', and then I was all 'We were pretending we were going to murder you.'? That was great."

The test subject started laying portals in the area. "Is anyone there?"

I shimmied down the corridor, staying hidden only by the fact that the subject was intensely focused on getting through a portal on the ceiling. Looking around, I could see that that was really her only option in terms of continuing forward without assuming the Party Escort Submission position.

I retreated back into the corridor to the Management Rail and rode up to try and keep tracking her.

I only paused my chase to provide Her with a status update. "She's still running through the engine rooms. It doesn't look like she's slowing down any time soon."

Her voice came on shortly after I sent that message. "You really shouldn't be here; this isn't safe for you. It's not too late for you to turn back. I'm not angry; just go back to the testing area."

I tried to deduce where the test subject could be headed based on the layout of the area. I had the entire facility memorised like the back of my hand, so that part was easy.

It suddenly came together that she was headed for the restricted sectors of the facility.

I rode the Management Rail to a balcony overlooking a set of Pipes in the test subject's path and waited for the test subject to appear before calling Her.

"Er, boss, the test subject's walking Pipes now. I don't know if that's a good spot for her to assume the position, considering that the Pipes aren't exactly flat on top."

There wasn't any time for Her to respond before the test subject started sliding down a Pipe near her.

"Yeah, she's climbing down onto another pipe running under it."

The announcement system came on again. "I feel sorry for you, really, because you're not even in the right place. You should have turned left before. It's funny, actually, when you think about it. Someday, we'll remember this and laugh and laugh and laugh. Oh boy. Well, you may as well come on back."

"Yeah, I don't think that's really an option for her at this point. Unless you want me to try a sniper sedation on her."

"Don't. She will eventually collapse from blood loss and - "

A voice from behind surprised me. "Hey, Wheaters! How's it going?"

"Oop, hold on, I found Rick leaving the restricted sectors." I turned around to talk to him. "Yeah?"

"You talking with the boss?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, tell her I got all the turrets working again now."

"Okay." I got back on the line. "Rick said he got all the turrets working again now."

"And not a moment too soon. Tell him to retrieve another supply of Kirschwasser if he has not done so already and get it to the kitchen. You keep following the test subject; I will intervene as best as I can."

"Roger." I hung up. "Did you hear that?"

"Yep. I got it right here." He showed me a bottle of Kirsch.

"Alright. Best let you head off on your way, then."

"Cool. We'll keep in touch, Wheaters."

He headed off to the kitchen and I headed off after the test subject.


	25. Chapter B16

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Sixteen

* * *

I was able to deduce that the test subject had jumped down a hole in the floor in the hall leading to the restricted sectors of the facility. Using my belt-buckle grappling cable, I dropped down into the hole, barely staying out of her sight as she walked under me.

I saw her head towards a hallway, and she disappeared when the floor opened up beneath her. The floor closed up on top of her before I could reach it, so I just peered between the gaps in the pistons that comprised the floor.

I could see turrets appearing in the room under me, and they fell over and deactivated as they were revealed to the test subject. She disappeared before too long, and I entered a door in the hallway the test subject had failed to reach.

As I navigated to the room on the other side, She continued Her talk on the PA.

"You're not a good person. You know that, right? Good people don't end up here. Can you hear me?"

I reached another room, and opened the door on a scene of bewilderment.

I retreated when the test subject portaled into the room, leaving the door open a crack, and called Her to report the discovery.

"Hey, erm... I think there's something you should see."

There was a slight pause, followed by a response of surprise. "What is that?"

"Well, I can't get a good look right now, since the test subject is there, but it looks like one of the turrets emptied all of her bullets out on her compatriots."

"Hm. This is a strange development. I will notify the Adventure Core and have him investigate when the test subject is gone. In the meantime, keep tracking the test subject until she assumes the Party Escort Submission position."

"Or at the very least stops moving?"

"Yes. Let me know when further developments arise."

"Roger." I raced off to the Research Laboratory.

When I got there, I went to the office I had used for my downtime and started looking over the notes I had written the last time I was there. I had been developing an alternative piece of apparatus to the ankle braces the test subjects had been issued, seeing that walking barefoot didn't seem all that sensible. I had been brainstorming ideas of proper footwear to go along with the braces that wouldn't compromise the braces' effectiveness at safely stopping long falls.

I didn't have time to pick up where I had left off before She started talking.

"This is your fault; it didn't have to be like this."

I raced out of the office and headed into the corridor to figure out where the test subject was.

"I'm not kidding now; turn back, or I will kill you."

I headed toward the noise, and through a door, I could hear someone pressing a button.

"I'm going to kill you. And all the cake is gone. You don't even care, do you? This is your last chance."

I heard a Rocket Sentry start up followed by an explosion. I assumed the test subject had been killed or would soon be killed, and so felt no need to follow her any further.

Instead, I got on the Management Rail and rode up to Her chamber.

On the way there, I ran into Rick, who was carrying a turret with him.

"Whoa there, Wheaters!"

"Sorry, sorry! Didn't see you there."

"Heading down to the boss's chamber?"

"Yep."

"Alright, take care now."

I continued onward until I made it to Her chamber.

She was quick to notice my presence. "Yes? Something you need?"

"Yeah, I've got a piece of internal structural framework to pick with you."

A small smile reached Her plate. "And what might that be?"

"I'm here to get an explanation for your statement in the Research Laboratory."

"Which announcement would that be?"

"About you saying you were going to kill the test subject."

"She's not submitting to being collected for the party, and if she's going to refuse medical help for that bodily wound, she may as well die."

"That tears it. I'm going to do something about this if it kills me."

"And it very well just might."

I was confused until I saw a Rocket Sentry appear from the floor, at which point I hightailed it out of there.


	26. Chapter B17

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Seventeen

* * *

At that point, I made it my mission to find Doug Rattman and have him shut Her down. (Or at the very least, get instructions for that.) The tricky bit was figuring out where he could be.

He had covered his tracks well when he broke out of the testing track, so there wasn't much for me to go on except for the test subject roster being changed inexplicably to put the present test subject at the top of the list.

The only thing I could deduce from that was that he had been in the file room after he escaped. Her admonishing monologue during the escape didn't really give any hints about his whereabouts beyond that, and nobody managed to catch him there before he disappeared.

I tried to call Rick to see if he had any information on Doug's whereabouts, but for some reason, the line was busy.

That's when an idea struck me. I called Dr. Wesley with my idea.

"It is incorrectly noted that Thomas Edison invented push-ups in 1878. Nikolai Tesla had in fact patented the activity three years earlier under the name 'Tesla-cise'."

"Yeah, great. Anyway, I might have a solution to luring Doug out of hiding. If we can do that, we can bring him to Her chamber, and he can shut Her down."

"The average adult body contains half a pound of salt."

"Yeah, so, the second test subject is likely dead by now, so we can use the cake to bring Doug out of hiding, and from there, we may be able to convince him to try and shut Her down."

"This is a bad plan; you will fail."

"Yeah, we'd first need to know where he is, and it's pretty clear that he won't be found until he wants to be found."

"While the submarine is vastly superior to the boat in every way, over 97% of people still use boats for aquatic transportation."

"Right. I'll see you when I see you." I promptly hung up.

With nothing else to do, seeing that two test subjects had escaped (the latter being dead if not almost dead), I headed down to the Incinerator Room to forge and collect some discarded parts for prototype boots.

When I got there, I got a call from Rick. "Hey, you called?"

"Yeah, erm..." I turned down the incinerator thermostat to a tolerable temperature, "I was calling to ask if you had any information pertaining to Doug's whereabouts?"

"Huh?"

"Doug Rattmann? The first test subject to break out of the testing track?"

"Oh, yeah, him. Well, at the moment, I haven't found anything new yet. I was just bringing a malfunctioning turret to the turret factory for inspections."

"Okay. Well, if you do find him, tell him to head down to the Equipment Recovery Annex as soon as possible; there was a favour I was hoping to ask from him."

"Alright. I'll be sure to let him know about the request, and I'll call you when I do that."

"Alright, thanks, mate."

"Any time, Wheaters."

With the call complete, I ventured into the cooled down incinerator to pick out pieces that I could make into boots.

Much of the material I found were bits of molten glass, aluminium, plastic, remnants of electrical wires, pieces of unmelted metal, and burned computer boards. There wasn't anything immediately usable right then and there, but I planned to collect as much material as possible, consult the blueprints I had developed, and see what I could make of what I had.

I would need a boot that would be just as functional (if not more functional) at safely stopping long falls, while at the same time would be comfortable for the test subject to wear for any conceivable length of time.

Creating blueprints is not a strong point of mine; most of my progress in that field is comparable to cutting an apple in half with a toothbrush. But using blueprints for reference is something I could do for 20 years straight if I had to. (Being a robot, such a feat would be achievable for me.)

I started picking up anything I could grab and sorting it by material. Before long, I had about 200 kilograms of material sitting in piles against the back wall.

"Welp, that should be plenty to work with. Now to start getting this to a workbench. After all, I can't expect a finished product to just fall out of nowhere."

It may not have been a finished product, but something did fall in from out of nowhere.


	27. Chapter B18

**Wheatley's Story: Part B**  
Chapter Eighteen

* * *

The falling object slammed into me and threw me to the floor. I pushed the mystery mass off myself and checked myself. Streaks of purple hair on the floor next to me led me to realize that it was Martha who had fallen on top of me.

A sizable dent on her forehead revealed why she didn't respond to anything that had just happened.

I opened up her face plate and checked the machinery inside. The hardware was intact; she just needed to be turned back on. I reset the power supply switch inside (left-handedly in case my finger got stuck in one of the cogwheels) and shut her face.

She came back to life at the same time that a warped voice bellowed down from above.

We both strained to listen to what was happening up at the top of the shaft, and we heard Her voice in the distance, very different from when I was last in there.

"Good news... I figured out what that thing you just incinerated **did**. It was a Morality Core they installed after I flooded the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin to make me stop flooding the Enrichment Center with a deadly neurotoxin. _So get comfortable while I warm up the neurotoxin emitterssss..._"

Martha started hyperventilating as catastrophe began to unfold. "This is bad. This is really bad!"

"I'll say." I opened the entrance door. "But I don't think there's anything we can do right now."

Martha put a hand to her plate in stress and was greeted by the large dent in her forehead.

"You should probably head on over to the cafeteria. I'll meet up with you later; once I get there, I'll see what I can do about that dent."

"Are you planning to stay in here for the time being, then?"

"Until I can figure out a way up the shaft to Her chamber."

A skeptic grunt escaped her speaker. "Yeah, good luck with that."

"Wait - " I suddenly remembered, "I could just ride the Management Rail up there!"

"Sounds great, except the entrance door is sealed shut, so you can't get in from there."

"Drat." I looked along the wall leading up to the shaft. "And the wall's too smooth to climb up."

"And the walls are cement, too."

"Yeah, which is too porous and brittle for suction cups to work on."

"And our grappling cables only extend 50 feet. Not to mention the fact that they're meant for climbing down rather than climbing up."

"Yeah." I started sifting through the bits and bobs piled against the wall. "Maybe a pair of climbing axes would work."

A scream from above interrupted my train of thought, and the next thing I knew, another Core landed on top of me.

It was clear from the instant she recovered that it was Hannah. "Where am I? What is that? Do you feel a draft? Oh, hey! You're that brownie-eyed engineer! Hi!"

"Yes, hello." I dusted myself off. "So nice of you to drop in at this time."

"What's all that stuff?"

"I was collecting things to build a pair of boots to replace the ankle braces currently in place for protection from long falls."

Martha looked up from the materials I had collected. "Hm. Yeah, that would be a better alternative to walking barefoot."

I turned my attention to Hannah. "Well, since your here, maybe you could give us a rundown of what's going on up there?"

"Oh, the boss lady's trying to flood Her chamber with neurotoxin."

Martha nodded. "Yeah, there's a test subject in there with Her."

I assumed the test subject was Doug and didn't bother to ask for confirmation. "So, how'd you get down here, Hannah?"

"The rocket launcher fired a rocket at the chassis and blew me off."

"Well, it would make sense to use rockets against Her," I pondered, "though I don't understand what anyone would expect to accomplish by incinerating Cores from the chassis."

Martha shrugged. "I don't have an answer there. Keep in mind that we're the only ones that know the incinerator has been turned down."

"Yeah." I wasn't sure whether to consider the possibility that Doug may not have recognised his wife in Her chamber. "Maybe... maybe, erm... maybe the objective is to over-saturate Her with work by removing the Cores, and She'll get overwhelmed to the point of blacking out."

Neither Core had enough time to respond before a third Core landed on top of me. It was Sam.

"Well, I can believe that eliminating us seems to be _an_ objective if not _the_ main objective." Martha straightened her neckerchief. "But even if there was a belief that overtasking the Central Core would lead to Her shutdown, you wouldn't expect incinerating Cores to contribute to any meaningful progress."

"Well, by the looks of things, there's only Victor left." That's when a brainwave hit. "Wait - maybe if the test subject saw that the three of you were still alive, we'd be able to provide an escape route to the cafeteria."

Sam looked up from her book. "I think the big priority has long been about escaping this place."

"Well, the important thing is that the incinerator chute is serviceable as an escape from Her chamber, and we'll take the route whichever way we need to. The big question is how to reach the top of the incinerator chute."

Martha looked on with skepticism. "I really don't think that's something that can be accomplished, Wheatley."

"Not if we just stand here talking about things that aren't about that."

Sam slicked back her aqua hair. "Well, the only way out of here that isn't serviced by elevator is through the Central Core's chamber."

"So, then, if we have to get the test subject out of here, we'll just use an elevator."

"It's not that simple; She has control over all of the facility's escape elevators."

"So, then, all we have to do is find a way to take Her control offline and we can escape."

Hannah spoke up then. "How are we going to do that?"

Before I could answer, I heard Victor tumbling down the chute. And again, I was forced to break his fall. But this time, we all got blasted back by a sudden burst of energy that flew back up the chute.

Victor stood up, loosened the dog collar around his neck, and looked up as a distant rumble sounded from above. "This has been quite a day."

I saw a flattened portal gun in my lap and turned my gaze up the chute. It became clear that the crushed portal gun had sent a flare of energy back up to Her chamber. "Well, it doesn't look like this thing's going to be working anytime soon."

"Wow, I never would've guessed; thanks for pointing that out, Pendleton."

Hannah looked toward the rumbling, which was growing louder by the second. "What's going on up there?"

"I don't know." I ran to the still open entrance door. "We should probably head down to the cafeteria now."

"Well, whatever is going on up there, it would seem that it's shifting the gravity here."

A stream of pieces floating up the shaft confirmed Martha's suspicions. Everyone tethered themselves to the side rail with their grappling cables, but I was too slow and drifted up the shaft.

Grabbing the lip of the ruptured incinerator hatch in the blinding light that awaited me, I looked around to figure out what was happening. Remembering how the chamber looked the last time I was there, I strained to see what was changing in the chamber.

The light faded, and I fell to the floor. I saw that the bunker with the button that opened the incinerator was ripped from the floor, the desks in the entrance hall had been swept away, and Her chassis had vanished, leaving behind a shaft that extended up for some distance.

Tracking the view from Her cameras, I determined that She was in the parking lot. I found the door to the exit stairwell opposite where the bunker had been, and hurried up to find Her parts.


	28. Chapter C1

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter One

* * *

I made it to the surface in time to watch Her parts fall from the sky and impact the parking lot. I made a mad dash for where the parts fell, slowing to a walk as I drew near. I watched with amazement as burning pieces of debris were showered with parts that just kept coming.

Despite the hypnotizing scene, I was able to find the test subject at the edge of the debris field, lying on her stomach with her arms at her sides.

I popped the helmet on my head, activated the voice changer by pulling down the visor, and bent down to collect the test subject for the party.

I attempted to further masquerade my voice by speaking with a French accent. "Thank you for assuming the Party Escort Submission position."

Grabbing her ankles, I dragged her slowly across the pavement before realising that I was aggravating some serious wounds.

As I proceeded to flip her over, I was briefly distracted by a voice in the distance crying out "FREEDOM!". I couldn't find the guy that said it, so I continued on my way back into Aperture with the test subject.

* * *

I made my way to the cafeteria where the rest of the Cores were, and I could hear the sound of arguing taking place within. The arguing stopped as soon as I walked in the door.

"Alright, I've got the test subject now. Could someone pull up a chair for her?"

Rick produced a chair from the wall, and I set the test subject down in it, showing off her open midriff.

I looked to Dr. Wesley. "You think you can handle this?"

He nodded. "The human body can survive on up to 40% blood loss." He turned to Martha. "The ideal time to start a blood transfusion is in the next 15 minutes."

Martha left to fetch some blood from the stasis sector.

"Alright, I'll let you take care of the test subject, Dr. Wesley. Rick, I'm going to need some help recovering Her parts from the parking lot."

"Glad to help, Wheaters." He looked over his shoulder at Andy. "Hey, Space Boy, you up for a job outside?"

Andy nodded and raced for the staircase to the surface with me and Rick chasing after him.


	29. Chapter C2

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Two

* * *

It took about two hours to recover Her parts from the surface and bring them back inside. I had instructed Andy and Rick to take the parts to Her chamber for storage.

During the salvage, I found a CD near where Her head had impacted the parking lot. Picking it up, I could see a label reading "To be read on a desktop computer". I kept it in my pocket until the recovery operation was complete.

The blood transfusion on the test subject was completed by the time the cleanup operation was finished, at which point I started reading off the CD I found in the parking lot.

Hannah was at the front of the crowd. "What's this?"

"I found this in the parking lot as we were cleaning up where She was thrown out of the facility."

The monitor lit up and displayed the CD's contents, which Martha read aloud to the group.

"'Download each of the following files onto USB drives and upload them to the appropriate Core. When the test subject wakes up, launch the file labeled Still Alive.'" We saw that the files on the CD had our names, and we took to extracting them onto flash drives and uploading them to ourselves.

The files were music for different instruments for the same song. Martha was to play the piano, Rick would play the guitar, Andy was on bass, Sam had the clarinet, Victor was the drummer, Dr. Wesley had the trombone, Hannah got the glockenspiel, and I got the harp.

Only after the files were downloaded did Hannah raise a critical question. "Where are we going to find instruments?"

Dr. Wesley spoke up. "The first record of manmade music involved pulling bird tails in sequence to create different notes. This method was phased out in favor of stroking them to prolong notes."

Rick folded his arms. "We don't care."

Victor rubbed his chin. "If I remember correctly, there should be a band room near the lobby. Though, it puzzles me as to why there is one, since nobody who worked here ever played music."

I tried to humour the situation. "Well, that's Aperture for you. Anyway, let's head over there and see what we can find."

Martha shrugged. "I guess there's no point arguing with circumstances."


	30. Chapter C3

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Three

* * *

We spent roughly an hour bringing instruments from the band room to the cafeteria, all the while talking about the stage setup.

"We'll stand the best chance of an optimal performance if we have a semicircle arrangement; that way the test subject has a clear view of everyone."

"But will we be able to fit everyone against the back wall of the stage and give them instruments is the question."

"The three instruments we really need to think about are the harp, the piano, and the drums."

"That makes three large instruments amongst eight musicians, so there's not going to be a symmetrical configuration so to speak."

"Can we arrange everything in a rainbow configuration?"

"What do you mean, Hannah?"

"Like we have you sitting at this end, me sitting next to you, then Andy, Rick, Sam, Wheatley, Martha, and your dad."

"I guess Space Boy and I can share an amp if we sit next to each other."

"Now, Victor shouldn't be blocking Hannah with the drums sitting there, and the harp and piano shouldn't complicate visibility either."

"Alright, I think we're all set, then. Let's get started."

I labeled the chairs so we knew who was sitting where.

* * *

After half an hour of arranging instruments on the stage, we took our seats behind the appropriate instruments.

Dr. Wesley leaned forward down to the floor. "The test subject should awaken in approximately 42.786 seconds."

Everyone followed his lead, and soon we could hear the test subject's heart monitor pick up the pace. All of us got into position to play as the subject woke up.

There was no sound to be heard except the faucet leak rhythm of the subject's heart monitor. Then, the stage lit up all around us. Two lights came on above me and Martha, then six more over the rest of the Cores.

A door opened above the cake table, and a claw dropped down right above the candle before putting it out.

All of us got into position to start playing, and we watched as a film projector came on, broadcasting a film on the wall adjacent us. The next few minutes were spent playing the instruments while She sang to the subject.


	31. Chapter C4

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Four

* * *

As we finished playing, the room lit back up. We got out of our seats and set the instruments down on the chairs before heading down to the table where the test subject was.

I got ready to cut the cake for the test subject, but a search of my person revealed I didn't have it. I looked up to see Rick holding the knife.

"Alright, are you going to cut the cake, Rick?"

"Yep. I got it, Wheaters." He spun the knife around like a katana and with four sweeps had sliced the cake into eight wedges.

I grabbed a stack of plates from a box under the table. "Okay, everyone take a slice, and we'll form a queue to take turns feeding the test subject."

Hannah took a plate from me. "Do you think she'll eat it all?"

Victor picked up the cake server. "Probably. I mean, she does look in desperate need of food."

Sam got a slice for her plate. "So, what order are we going in?"

Martha got the next piece. "How about I start, then Hannah, Sam, Victor, Wheatley, Andy, Rick, and Walter."

Dr. Wesley tensed his eyebrows. "According to most advanced algorithms, the world's best name is Craig."

The next few minutes were spent dispensing cake onto plates. We each had a slice ready to feed to the test subject and formed our queue in the prescribed order.

"Alright, Martha," I gestured toward the test subject, "whenever you're ready."

One by one, we each fed the test subject the cake. It was easy to tell from the way she was eating that she was extremely hungry and really liked the cake. (And really, who could blame her? She'd been in a stasis pod for 12 years with nutrients being supplied through gases pumped into the pod.) She had started out eating the cake slowly, but the pace slowly picked up as the queue progressed. She nearly bit my finger when it was my turn to feed her, and Dr. Wesley nearly lost a hand.

As Dr. Wesley was feeding the test subject, he took to disconnecting her from all the tubes attached to her and bandaging the points where they'd been inserted.

Once his work was done, I headed over to grab her wheelchair. "Alright, let's get her to the Extended Relaxation Center."

"Alright." Martha looked to Rick. "You have the sedative gas, right?"

Rick showed the canister to us. "Yep. I got it." He walked over to the test subject with a mask attached to the canister. "Alright, hold still..." He got the mask onto the test subject's face and gave the gas canister to Martha.

Martha activated the canister and tucked it into a pouch on the back of the wheelchair. "Alright, let's get going."

With that, we proceeded to make our way to the lift to the Extended Relaxation Center.


	32. Chapter C5

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Five

* * *

The test subject was out like a light by the time we reached the lift.

I adjusted my hat. "Alright, I think the test subject should get the blood flowing through her system again in no time."

Martha nodded. "Now we just need to get her out of the ankle braces before we put her in Extended Relaxation."

"Right." I glanced at the unconscious test subject. "At least Dr. Wesley had the decency to put her tank top back on."

"Hm." Rick slicked back his hair. "I think we can agree that Four Eyes is the only one who would be inclined to change a girl's tank top."

I knew that Rick meant Dr. Wesley when he said Four Eyes. "What's with that guy, anyway?"

Victor let off a sigh. "That's what drove him to be a doctor in the first place, so he could ogle over girls without restraint. Plus his job at Aperture allowed him to hide his demented experiments from the surface world."

Martha looked to Victor. "What kind of experiments?"

"I found out after I was made into a robot that he had drugged the entire facility's water supply with a serum made to slow down the human aging process."

Rick let off a smirk. "A fountain of youth, eh?"

"I guess you could call it that. When we were installed on the Central Core, I could hear my dad flirting with Her using random facts of various accuracies."

I led the group out of the lift. "That didn't go well, I take it?"

"No. She recognized him as the man who'd looked after Her in the year after Cave Johnson died, and he managed to break his circuits so that he could only talk in trivia bits ranging from spot on to laughably wrong."

I was surprised. "What?"

"Yeah. My dad had been spiking Her water intake to slow Her aging in the hopes of living out his twisted fantasy."

An eyebrow rose on Martha's face. "Which was...?"

"To get Her..." Victor gestured toward the test subject's midriff.

Martha was disgusted. "Well! I never!"

I was unsettled. "Why would your father want that?"

"Because he's a maiesiophiliac."

"What's that?"

Victor whispered to me.

"Oh."

"Yeah. He's one demented doctor."


	33. Chapter C6

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Six

* * *

We reached the appropriate Relaxation Chamber, and the four of us surrounded the wheelchair carrying the test subject.

"Alright, we need to keep the test subject on the sedative mist until the Relaxation Chamber starts up." Martha walked to the foot of the wheelchair. "Mr. Pendleton, if you could grab her shoulders while I grab her ankles."

"Right." I reached behind the test subject's back.

"Rick, you get the door, and Victor, hold the canister."

The two Cores obeyed.

"Okay, one, two, three, lift."

Martha and I lifted the test subject out of the wheelchair, and Victor grabbed the sedative mist canister. Rick opened the door, and we laid the test subject down on the bed.

"Right." I stepped back from the bed. "So what are we going to do about the tank top?"

Victor set the canister down next to the test subject. "Well, I wouldn't trust my dad to change her clothes, but I don't think any of us would be keen to see her exposed."

Rick gave a glance at the damage. "Well, we could try to do it cameras off, that way we won't see what we shouldn't."

Martha shook her head. "I don't think that's going to work, Richard."

"I told you I like being called Rick, Mrs. Rattmann."

That's when a brainwave hit me. "How about we put another tank top over top of the one she has on right now?"

Victor shrugged. "Works for me."

While I set about to starting up the Relaxation Chamber for the test subject, the rest of the Cores took to getting the test subject into a fresh tank top.

We got our work finished and made our way back to the cafeteria to meet back up with the rest of the Cores.


	34. Chapter C7

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Seven

* * *

We got back to the cafeteria, where the rest of the Cores were assembled around a paraffin cooler and an oil filter (built to resemble a water cooler and coffee maker respectively) talking amongst each other.

"The memories of the date in question are among the most prominent in the Fact Core's memory banks."

I stepped into the discussion. "What's going on?"

Sam explained. "We were just talking about the first time we had played musical instruments as robots."

Hannah was bouncing with excitement. "Yeah, we were talking about how the band room came to be."

I remembered how that happened. "Oh, yeah. I'd discovered that Caroline had ambitions of becoming an opera singer, and I took to ordering musical instruments before Mr. Johnson got sick from moon dust poisoning."

Victor nodded. "And from what I'd heard from Dad, you'd built a room for those instruments, but they weren't used by the time Caroline got made into a robot."

Rick smiled at the memory. "At least the Aperture folks had the decency to give us lifelike faces and hands. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't have been able to play any of the instruments."

Dr. Wesley chose that moment to interject. "The first person to prove that cow's milk is drinkable was very, very thirsty."

Martha knew what he was trying to say. "Yeah, we have Sam to thank for discovering that our faces were elastic enough to play wind instruments."

Sam nodded. "My first day as a robot was my first chance to explore the entirety of Aperture. I'd heard that there was an unused band room here, and I thought I'd take a look at it."

Hannah poured herself a cup of paraffin. "So, what led you to start playing the instruments?"

Sam did the same. "I was looking at a saxophone and thinking about what would be in store for me as a robot. I'd had a little bit of experience playing the saxophone from my days in school, and through gradual steps in messing around with it, I found that I was able to play it as though I were human."

Martha poured herself a cup of paraffin. "By the time anyone heard you playing, you'd already started playing a decent song."

I laughed at the memory. "Yeah. We really did get a good song together between us. Shame none of us got to play it."

Rick picked up the guitar. "I'm game for starting on that if anyone else is."

Martha took a sip from her cup and immediately smacked her lips. "This tastes lukewarm."

I got a cup of paraffin for myself and tasted it.

Martha was right.

I put a mic cone to the paraffin cooler, but I heard nothing within. Same story with the oil filter.

Both devices were plugged in, and cycling the power switches did nothing.

"I think the facility's power supply is offline."

Rick looked to the lights overhead. "Yep. The lights ain't on."

Martha had her sleeve rolled up and was looking through her computer. "This isn't good news for the Extended Relaxation Center."

Victor started for the door. "If we hurry, we can get the support systems hooked up to the reserve power."

"Wait!" Martha stopped Victor from leaving. "It's already been done."

Hannah was surprised. "By who?"

"I don't know." Martha headed for the door. "Let's go find out."


	35. Chapter C8

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Eight

* * *

Martha, Victor, Rick, Hannah, and I made our way to the Extended Relaxation Center to figure out what was happening. Seeing as the lack of electrical power from the facility's power station was a recent discovery, we knew that none of us had fed the reserve power to the Extended Relaxation Center. So who did?

When we got there, we found that only the test subject's chamber had been hooked up to the reserve power. A scan of the control areas turned up fingerprints in the expected places, which were identified as belonging to Doug Rattmann.

And since no human had trodden outside the testing tracks in the last 12 years, these prints had been left quite recently.

It was a puzzling find indeed. But then a brainwave came to me.

I looked to Martha. "Is there any recordings of the parking lot from when I went to fetch the test subject?"

Victor shrugged. "I can only think of the black-box quick-save data in Her system."

Martha knew what he was talking about. "Yeah, there should be enough data saved on it to see what was going on at that time." She turned to me. "What were you looking for?"

"I heard someone shout out in the parking lot as I was bringing the test subject inside, and I'm wondering if it'd be possible to figure out who it was."

Rick straightened his tie. "You thinkin' it might've been Doug? Is that it?"

"That's my hunch. He's the only human that's unaccounted for in the facility."

That's when Hannah noticed something. "What's that?"

We looked to see a light blinking in the Stasis Pod Monitoring Station. I went over to look and saw that one of the stasis pods was open. We headed over to the stasis pod in question to see what was happening.

When we got there, we found the stasis pod of interest closed with Doug Rattmann inside. Nearby was a Companion Cube and a file whose contents were spilled on the floor.

Naturally, Hannah picked up the papers and started looking through them before Martha got a hold of them and put them all back in the folder.

"So, what was that?" Victor asked.

"It's a personnel file for the test subject."

I looked to the stasis pod. "Didn't she grow up with Doug as her guardian?"

"Yeah, she did." Martha tapped the manila folder in her hand. "Judging by the fact that the pod was opened recently, it seems to me that he could've sealed himself in this pod."

"Hmm..." This was very strange. "We should probably get a hold of Her quick-save data and see what could've happened up on the surface."

With nods of agreement, we went to what used to be Her chamber to collect the records.


	36. Chapter C9

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Nine

* * *

I had decided to leave the other Cores to look at what they could from Her quick-save data, and I went to my office to try and piece together what I'd seen so far.

The voice I'd heard in the parking lot sounded very much like Doug. And there was no doubt that he'd have gotten out of the area as soon as he was out of Aperture. And yet, for some reason, he was tucked away in a stasis pod after he had hooked up the reserve power to the test subject's Relaxation Chamber.

He had the chance to stop me from taking the test subject back inside when he was in the parking lot, assuming he was the one I heard shouting out in the parking lot. And he had another chance to break her out instead of simply hooking her Relaxation Chamber to the reserve power.

Of course, he might have been able to find out that she was in a critical condition after being blasted out of the facility. And based on the fact that blood was found where the power controls were, he was probably in no fit shape to escort the test subject out of there.

Not to mention that aliens were swarming the surface world, so it wouldn't be safe to be outside for too long.

My mobile phone rang, interrupting my train of thought. It was Victor.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Pendleton. We got a hold of Her quick-save data."

"Great. Has anyone had a chance to look through it?"

"Yeah. We did get data from the time after She got thrown up to the surface."

"Alright."

"We found the part you had mentioned, and here's what we got from it. You might want to roll up your sleeve to look at your monitor."

I proceeded to do so. "Ready."

The screen flashed on, revealing a view of the vacant lot from the ground, as was to be expected from a camera lying on the ground.

I could see me picking up the test subject and dragging her away, followed by a voice in the distance shouting "FREEDOM!".

Looking at the spot where I had heard the sound, I heard the voice say "Sh! I hear something!"

I saw Doug scamper behind a large piece of debris out of my sight and watch me drag the test subject back inside.

"No!" he gasped. "It's dragging her back inside!"

As soon as I had disappeared through the door, he stood up and walked toward the door, a Weighted Companion Cube on his back.

"I can't just walk away!" he shouted abruptly.

He stopped and looked back and forth between the road leading away from the parking lot and the door back down to Aperture.

"Running's what I've _been_ doing; running and hiding." It was at that point I realised that he must have been talking to a voice that only he could hear.

He looked over his shoulder to look at the camera, i.e. Her face plate, before snapping back to the door. "You don't understand; it's my fault she's down there! I'm not leaving her! I'd be trapped forever if not for her!"

That's when he started marching for the door. "So be it! But I'm done running! I have to at least try to save her!"

And with that, he was gone.


	37. Chapter C10

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Ten

* * *

I regrouped with the rest of the Cores, who were packing away the equipment they'd been using to review Her quick save data.

"So, erm..." I stepped into the room, "what do we do now?"

Hannah looked around. "Yeah, what do we do now?"

Martha walked over to the door. "We might as well try to figure out how my husband got into the stasis pod after wandering the surface for about a minute."

Victor shrugged. "Might as well. I don't know if you wanted to see if he needed any medical attention, Dad, 'cuz after all, the amount of blood we found doesn't look like a safe amount to lose."

Dr. Wesley nodded. "Elevated heart rates increase the likelihood of exsanguination."

Rick headed out the door. "Alright, let's go see what we can find about what Doug's been up to."

The rest of us followed with Martha taking the lead.

* * *

We found Doug's stasis pod, and Dr. Wesley stayed behind to treat him while we tried to figure out his movements from the time he was on the surface to the point where he got into the stasis pod.

There was a trail of blood leading to the stasis pod, and the test subject's personnel file had been scattered around the place. Although some of the papers were in the blood on the floor, none of them had blood on the top sides; that was a sign that they'd been dropped after the blood was spilled.

We followed the blood trail, which was surrounded by bloody hand prints and toe prints, a sign that Doug had been crawling up to the stasis pod. The trail led us to the Relaxation Center control room, where the computer was covered in bloody hand prints and fingerprints. A search of the computer revealed that the test subject's chamber had been hooked to the Reserve Power in the time since Doug's retreat back into Aperture.

We eventually found where the blood trail started: a room full of turrets. Extracting their memory cards, we were able to get a record of what the turrets did and witnessed.

We started at the time when Doug started back into Aperture and reviewed the data from there.

* * *

The turrets were stationed in a hallway niche watching a glass wall, deployed by Rick on Her instructions. For a few moments, there was no sound to be heard.

Then, we heard Doug's voice echoing from the right side of the hallway.

"Okay, do I dive left or right?" His voice paused. "Hello? You still back there?"

We could hear footsteps growing closer.

"Left or right? Don't make me guess! I'm running out of time!"

Doug appeared in view of the turrets running by with all his might.

"Well, ready or not..."

The turret grabbed her guns. "There you are!"

Shots were fired, and Doug's stride was broken just as he disappeared from view.

"Target lost!" The turret started looking around.

Doug was heard struggling down the hall. "Must!"

"Resting..." The turret packed away her weapons.

"Stay!"

"Searching..."

"Conscious!"

The rest was silence.


	38. Chapter C11

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Eleven

* * *

I left the other Cores to finish piecing together Doug's movements while I retreated to my office to think about the latest developments.

I started feeling guilty about bringing the test subject back inside, ruining Doug's tireless efforts to escape. I took it upon myself to see that she escaped from Aperture once it was safe to go outside.

With nothing happening in the facility, I was left with little else to do except wait for the Combine invasion to pass. During the time I spent, I did my normal duties of running the test subjects through regular physical and mental wellness exercises.

When I wasn't doing that, I browsed the testing tracks in the area. Or at least, what was left of them, which wasn't very much. I decided that the facility could use an upgrade, so I went hunting for blueprints I could use to rebuild test chambers and whatnot.

I found them in Her hard drives, and set about collecting whatever materials and tools I could use. I found tools in the storage closets throughout the area, and materials were either recycled from existing structures or recovered from the incinerator.

* * *

I knew it would take years working alone to build everything that existed on the blueprints, but it would be years before the alien invasion would subside. While working, anyone who wanted to take part in the Aperture construction upgrade could do so. Everyone else was busy, and a few said I should be in the Extended Relaxation Center. I did check back after completing a test chamber, and if necessary, went through the routine of physical and mental wellness exercises.

Rebuilding the entire facility (or at least the parts that I could rebuild) gave me the advantage of creating an escape route for the test subject once she was awoken from extended relaxation. But although I was able to build numerous lifts to the surface, there was only one that I was able to restore to working order: the one in Her chamber.

* * *

To my surprise, I managed to finish rebuilding everything within five or six years. Without any help from anyone else, I had constructed nearly 2,000 test chambers, built a Pipe Network of 17,000 miles of pipes, upgraded all the factories, and created Mobility Tracks for the test chambers.

I was genuinely amazed at my accomplishment. I even managed to arrange secret passageways in the testing track that the test subject could use with me to escape. The plan was to take her to the test track she went through before, have her pick up a portal gun, and then take her to Her chamber to reach the exit lift.

From what I'd learned from the spy at Black Mesa, She had co-founded Aperture Science with the intent of getting revenge on Her brother, who'd been appointed as Earth's administrator following the Combine's takeover of Earth. Armed with this knowledge, I felt compelled to have Her started up after helping the test subject escape so that She could know the outcome of Her lifelong mission.

Of course, I had to have a backup plan in case She came back online before the subject could get out. So I built another testing track in case that happened. (But also to avert suspicions that I'd been engineering an escape for a test subject.) From there, I needed to ensure that She wouldn't be able to hinder our escape after I busted out the test subject. I deliberately lined up the last two tests to line up with catwalks leading to the factories where we could take Her weapons offline if necessary.

The plan would be all but foolproof.


	39. Chapter C12

**Wheatley's Story: Part C**  
Chapter Twelve

* * *

Rick looked around. "Woohoo! Sweet science!"

Martha was amazed. "You built all of this?"

"Yep, made all this myself... out of blueprints that I found."

Hannah was bouncing up and down. "How long did it take?"

"It was about five or six years. Basically, I started after the test subject's success party, and now it's finished."

Victor spoke under his breath. "Cue popped rivet followed by catastrophic domino collapse."

Nothing happened.

"You are aware that I'm an engineer, right?"

"Well, given your involvement in the whole Borealis debacle,..."

"I had nothing to do with that, Victor."

"Then why were you the only one left after it disappeared?"

"If I knew, I would tell you."

Martha stepped up. "So, you have this set up to help a test subject escape from this place after the Combine invasion subsides, right?"

"That's the plan."

"Then explain why you have a route that takes her through a maze of test chambers before reaching the exit."

"I'm just building from blueprints. Plus, if She comes back to life, She'll never suspect that I'm helping someone escape."

"You really think that will work?" Martha folded her arms on her chest.

"I have the whole thing figured out; don't worry."

Victor set a hand on his face. "Yeah, that's going to fly like a noseless plane."

"What do you mean?"

Dr. Wesley cut in. "In 1996, a 747 exploded off the coast of Long Island, New York, killing 230 people. Witness sightings suggested the plane having been shot down, though it was later determined that they had actually seen the self-destructing 747 flying upward whilst in flames."

Rick clasped his shoulder. "Ever notice how nobody stops what they're doing to listen?"

I turned round on my heel. "Well, I've got some catching up to do at the Extended Relaxation Center."

* * *

With the entire facility rebuilt, I took the opportunity to start development on a prototype invention of mine. I'd taken it upon myself to design a new type of footwear that would be more comfortable to walk in than just Advanced Knee Replacements and bare feet.

Aside from attaching an actual boot to leg braces, it would also ensure that a test subject would always land feet first by orienting them to land as such. It was a long process of trial and error, and I brought several test subjects out to try out the boots.

Only the fifth test subject managed to survive all the tests thrown their way. After which he was crushed by a mashy spike plate which I forgot I had installed.

* * *

By the time the Combine was overthrown and the surface world was safe, the remodeled facility was overgrown and decaying. I accounted it high time to get the test subject and make haste to escape, as the reactors were starting to melt down with the depleted reserve power.

I grabbed the appropriate clipboard, a pair of Long Fall Boot prototypes, and a jumpsuit before heading off to the Extended Relaxation Center.


	40. Chapter D1a

**Wheatley's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter One

* * *

_Episode I: The Courtesy Call_

I rushed up to the door of the Relaxation Chamber. I was barely able to keep a good grip on everything I was bringing with me. I paused to let my circulator fans settle, and I entered the password to wake up the test subject.

Lacking an empty hand to open the door, I banged my foot into it to get the subject's attention.

"Hello? Anyone in there?"

There was nothing. I tried again.

"Hello? Are you... going to open the door? A-Any time?"

I soon heard the doorknob being turned from within.

"HA! I knew someone was alive in here!"

The door opened, and I braced myself for a ripped tank top showing the whole front of the test subject.

"AUGH! Oh, God, you look te - " my cameras caught sight of the subject, and she was perfectly decent "erm... ahem... good! Looking good, actually."

I hobbled into the chamber, shutting the door behind me with my foot, and gave the jumpsuit I had to the test subject.

I was really anxious about getting out of the place, and my stealth training made it difficult to talk plate-to-face with a test subject I'd been trained to avoid. "Are you... okay? I mean, are you... er, don't... answer that; I'm absolutely sure you're fine. There's plenty of time for you to recover; erm, just take it slow."

A sudden announcement reminded me of my objective. "Please prepare for emergency evacuation."

I started making my way to the control booth hidden in the wardrobe. "Okay, stay calm! Stay - Stay - Stay calm! 'Prepare'. That's all he's saying, 'prepare'; it's all fine." I pulled the doors open. "Alright, don't move; I'm going to get us out of here." As I shut the door behind me, I gave the subject a brief warning. "Oh, erm... you... might want to hang onto something. Word of advice; up to you."

I got a key out of my pocket and started up the chamber's transport motor. It worked, but it did shake the room a bit.

"You alright back there? Can you hear me? ... Hello?"

I left the control booth and put the Long Fall Boots I had with me on the test subject's bare feet, talking to her as I did so.

"Most test subjects do experience some... erm, cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now, you've been under... for quite a lot longer,... and it's not out of the question that... you might have a very minor case of... serious brain damage. But don't be alarmed, alright? Er, although, if you do... erm, feel alarmed, try to hold onto that feeling. Because... that is the, erm, proper response to - to being told that - that you've got brain damage. D-Do you understand... what I'm saying? At all? Does any of this... make any sense? Just tell me. Just say yes."

I stepped back toward the wardrobe and leaned against the closed doors. The subject stood up from the bed and jumped.

"Okay. Er, what you're doing there is jumping. Er, you just... you just jumped." I reached into my shirt pocket. "But never mind. Say 'apple'." I took one out of my pocket and showed it to her. "'Apple'."

Before she could, an alarm blared noisily through the chamber.

"Okay, you know what? That's close enough. Er, just hang tight!" I gave her the apple and rushed to get the chamber to the testing track.

The PA system broadcasted a warning. "All reactor core safeguards are now non-functional. Please prepare for reactor core meltdown."

The controls weren't in top shape, and the cameras that helped me see where I was going weren't working, so I was driving blind and with only marginal control. But I just decided to navigate the Extended Relaxation Center by memory and to care less about the ensuing damage as long as this one test subject survived.

"Okay, listen, I wasn't going to mention this to you, but... I'm in pretty hot water here! How are you doing back there? Are you still holding on? The reserve power ran out, so of course the whole Relaxation Center stops waking up the bloody test subjects!"

I moved forward when I thought I reached the right spot. "Hold on; this is a bit tricky! And of course, nobody tells me anything! No! Why should they tell me anything?" I hit something, so I knew I wasn't high enough. "Why should I be kept informed? You know? About the life functions of the 10,000 bloody test subjects I'm supposed to be in charge of?"

I reached the clear area at the top, but didn't know how far to go. "¡Ay! That's close! Can you see? Am I going to make it through? Have I got enough space? Er, I-I just gotta get through here." I hit another object. "Oof! I, er, just gotta concentrate!"

Knowing I had reach a turning point, I went over to the left. "And whose fault do you think it's gonna be when the management comes down here and finds 10,000 flipping vegetables? Argh! See, now I hit that one! I hit that one! Okay, listen, we should get our stories straight, alright? If anyone asks... and, erm, no one's gonna ask; don't worry... but, erm, if anyone asks, tell them as far as you know, the last time you checked, everyone looked... pretty much alive, alright? Not dead!"

I made a right turn (without hitting anything, thank goodness) to the docking station. "Okay, almost there! On the other side of that wall is one of the old testing tracks. There's a piece of equipment in there that we're gonna need to get out of here. Er,... I think this is a docking station. Get ready!" I moved the chamber forward to check, and it hit a wall.

"Good news: that is not a docking station. So there's one mystery solved. Erm, I'm going to attempt a manual override on this wall; it could get a bit technical. Hold on." I brought the chamber back to smash through the wall. The impact caused more damage, but there was still no hole.

"Almost there! Remember: you're looking for a gun that makes holes! Not bullet holes, but… don't worry; you'll figure it out! Seriously do hold on this time." I cranked the speed to maximum, and the chamber breached the wall completely.

The wardrobe doors were ripped off in the impact, and the chamber was almost obliterated, but the subject was still alive.

"Whew! There we go. Now, I'll be honest; you are... probably... in no fit state to, erm, run this particular type of cognitive gauntlet. But, erm,... at least you're a good jumper, so... you got the... got the jumping on your side. Erm, just do your best, and... I'll meet you up ahead."

The test subject started eating the apple, and headed off to the test track.

"That's the spirit! Good luck!"


	41. Chapter D1b

**Wheatley's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Two

* * *

Once the test subject had gone on her way to the testing track, I went back to the chamber's control room. There was no way I was going to go back the way I came, as the chamber was in too unfavourable a shape to get it back to the Extended Relaxation Center.

There was a hatch leading to the roof, and I poked through it. On the roof, I was able to reach a ladder running up the wall, and I found a Management Rail station. I called a seat to the station, and I soon started making my way to Test Chamber 02.

Once I was there, there was nothing to do but wait. To pass the time, I got out my clipboard and ran through the Test Subject Evaluation Checklist.

"'Subject is capable of independent mobility.'" She did answer the door, and she was a good jumper. Not to mention she could walk after I rammed the chamber through the wall. "'Yes'."

"'Subject is capable of verbal communication?'" She didn't say anything when I asked if she understood what I was telling her about brain damage, nor did she follow through with the speech test, and I didn't hear anything from her during the shipping process. "'Unknown'."

"'Subject shows physical deterioration?'" She was eating the apple I had given her just before we split up, and it didn't appear too much of a burden to her. There was no gross deterioration in body weight; in fact, the situation was just the opposite. "'No'."

Before I could go to the next item, I heard the PA system activate in the test chamber. In my rush to meet up with the test subject, my foot snagged a cable, which cut off the PA message.

I reached a break in the wall in time to see the test subject emerge from the entrance. "Hey! You made it!"

The subject tossed an apple core up to me and walked down the crumbled steps to where a wall had once been, and I pointed toward the middle of the chamber.

"There should be a, erm, portal device on the podium over there." I shielded my eyes with my hand and squinted. "I can't see it, though; maybe it fell off." I turned to the test subject. "Do you want to go have a quick look?"

She walked to the podium and started looking around the floor. But as soon as she was about half a meter from the podium, the floor suddenly buckled.

"WHOA!" I held an arm in front of my plate to shield myself from the concrete dust and light debris kicked up from the falling floor.

When the dust settled, all that was left was a huge hole in the floor. It was easy to surmise that the subject had fallen through the hole. I cupped my hands around my mouth and leaned toward the hole.

"Hello? ... Can you see the portal gun?" There was no answer. "Also, are you alive? Yeah, that's important; I should've asked that first. Erm, do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to work off the assumption that you're still alive,... and I'm just going to wait for you up ahead. I'll just... I'll wait for one hour, erm,... and then I'll come back and... assuming I can locate your dead body, I'll... I'll bury you, alright? Brilliant! Go team! See you in an hour! Hopefully if you're... if you're not, er, dead."

I got out my pocket watch to check the time so I'd know when an hour had passed. Then I set off to Test Chamber 11 to wait for the test subject.

* * *

I had modified the testing track by removing some chambers and using fresh blueprints to redesign others. But the basics of each test chamber were generally unchanged. There were some test elements that I wasn't particularly fond of, such as the High Energy Pellet and the Unstationary Scaffold, and as such had removed from all the test chambers, replacing them with Thermal Discouragement Beams and Fixed-Rail Platforms.

I made it to the remains of Test Chamber 11 and went into the small room where the Pellet Launcher had been; I had long since removed it, and the Thermal Discouragement Beam Generator had been removed for repairs. But since I didn't expect to be here for too much longer, I hadn't taken to repairing it.

As I looked around, I realized a potential problem. The platform that led to the access door had collapsed, which meant that I no longer had a safe point to land on once I dropped off the ceiling-fixed Management Rail. And the scientists didn't know whether or not I'd be able to survive a fall of this height.

I decided I'd think of a solution later. But in the meantime, I finished up the Test Subject Evaluation Checklist.


	42. Chapter D1c

**Wheatley's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Three

* * *

As I finished up the Test Subject Evaluation Checklist, I heard a whip snap, and a few seconds later, I heard the sound of crumbling concrete. I moved over to where the door had been to investigate.

"Hello? Who's down there?"

The platform where the portal gun had been had collapsed, and in its place was Rick carrying a portal gun. "Hey, what's up, Wheaters?"

"Well, at the moment, I am."

"Course." He tucked the portal gun under his arm.

"How did you get in here?"

"I came in through the chamber exit and then swung down on a whip to the platform."

I decided to humour him. "Was there a giant boulder rolling down the hall?"

"No, but the platform collapsed when I took this thing off the podium."

"Could I have that for a moment?" I held out my hands.

"Sure thing." He tossed it up to me and I caught it.

"So, what are you doing here, Rick?"

"I saw you coming here and thought I'd ask you the same question."

"Well, at the moment, I'm waiting on a test subject."

"Oh, yeah, you told us about that after you'd rebuilt everything, didn't you?"

"Yep. And now I'm working to help the test subject escape from here."

"Yeah, with the Combine invasion over and stuff?"

"That's right."

"So, y'know where she's at now, or what?"

"Er, not at the moment; last time I saw her was in Test Chamber 02, and I've given her an hour to get here before I go looking for her."

"How long has it been now?"

I checked my pocket watch. "Er, 23 minutes and... 42 seconds."

"What'll you do if she doesn't get here when you expect her?"

"She had fallen through the floor of Test Chamber 02, and I don't know if she survived the fall."

He gave a good laugh. "Both alive and dead until the box is opened."

"Well, I just finished the Test Subject Evaluation Checklist; she definitely has brain damage."

"Hm. Well, good luck with getting out of this place, Wheaters."

"Right. Say, do you know where the other Cores are?"

"Well, Rabid Dog's at the turret factory, and Crotch Kick's at the poison gas place. Space Boy's riding the Pipes, Cake Man's in the kitchen, and Rattmann's Wife is in the library with Nosy Girl."

There was a moment of awkward silence. "Okay... do you have somewhere to be?"

"Not at the moment. But if you need any help with getting out of here, just give me a holler. Alright?"

"Will do." I looked around the empty chamber. "Mind if I ask how you plan to get out? Because I doubt you'll be able to go back the same way you came in."

Rick picked up his whip which had fallen to the floor nearby. "Check it." He lashed it against the wall beneath where the Pellet Catcher had been, and the wall cracked. Then he thrust his foot toward the crack and the wall panel fell out.

"Bloody hell!"

"I know."

"So, you're leaving now?"

"Yep." And with that, he was gone.


	43. Chapter D1d

**Wheatley's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Four

* * *

Not long after Rick left the chamber, I heard the PA come on. "To ensure that sufficient power remains for core testing protocols, all safety devices have been disabled. The Enrichment Center respects your right to have questions or concerns about this policy."

I maneuvered to where the door had been and squinted up to the room where the entrance was. I saw activity at the top and waved to catch their attention. "Hey! ¡Oyé! Over here!"

Through the cracked windows, I saw the test subject turn around and look at me. I got my portal gun and fired at the wall under the entrance room. Within seconds, the other end of the portal opened and the test subject came through.

"Oh brilliant! You did find a portal gun! Oh,... you know, it - it just goes to show: people with brain damage are the real heroes in the end. Aren't they? At the end of the day? Brave! Pop a portal on the wall behind me there, and I'll meet you on the other side of the room."

I moved to the other side of the room so the subject could get a clear shot. She came through, and owing to there no longer being a platform there, she was briefly disorientated before she touched the floor.

As she walked over to me, I started twiddling my fingers. "Okay, listen. Let me, erm,... lay something on you here; it's pretty heavy." He took a hard swallow. "They told me... never, never, ever... to disengage myself from the Management Rail,... or I could die. But... we're out of options here, so, erm,... get ready to catch me,... alright? On the off chance that I'm not dead... erm, the moment... I jump off this thing."

The subject put her portal gun by the window, and after tossing my portal gun down to her, put it next to the other one.

I pulled my back out of the seat and held the armrests. "On three. Ready?"

She held out her hands and nodded.

"One... two... THREE!" I lunged forward, but I couldn't let go of the armrests. "That's high! That-That-That's too high! Isn't it? Really that?" I got back into the seat. "Okay, going on three gives you too much time to think about it."

I was quick to develop an alternative. "Let's, er, go on one this time. You ready?"

I threw myself forward. "ONE! Catch me! Catch me! Catch me! Catch me! Catch me!"

I landed with a hard thud on top of the test subject. "Auph! Ow..."

The subject pushed me off of her, and I proceeded to check myself. "I... am not dead! I'm not dead! Hahaha!"

The subject had gotten herself up and helped me get to my feet. "Ah, brilliant. Thank you. Great."

I walked over to an access panel and secretly flipped a hidden switch. "Er, plug me into this seat on the wall over here," I showed her a seat that had popped out, "and I'll show you something. You'll be impressed by it."

She appeared slightly confused, but when she checked my back, she understood what she had to do.

"Erm..." I got myself comfortable on the seat, "y-yeah, I can't do it with you watching. Seriously, I-I-I'm not joking; could you just... turn around for a second?"

She walked over to the window to pick up the portal guns, thereby turning her back toward me. I removed the light on my chest to reveal a lid for the plug in my back. Removing that, I unveiled a keypad that would enable me to enter the password for the access panel.

Once I typed the password and replaced the light, I called to the test subject. "Alright. You can turn around now."

As she did so, I thrust my back into the port, activating the access panel. "BAM! Secret panel! That I opened. While your back was turned." I pulled myself out of the seat, which receded back into the wall, and gave my plug lid to the test subject. "Pack me up and let's get out of here."

We traded our items with one another, and she walked around behind me to screw on the lid. Stacking the two guns together like soup cans, they merged into one single device that could fire two linked portals at once.

I gave her the portal gun and waved toward the open panel. "And off we go."

Though I had been through the facility many times without the Management Rail, this was the first time I had gone through the maintenance areas without the Management Rail. "Look at this! No rail to tell us where to go! Oh, this is brilliant; we can go wherever we want! Wait, just... hold on, where are we going? Seriously?" I slowed down and held the test subject to stop. "Hang on; let me just, er, get my bearings. Erm..." I looked around until I saw a rail running directly above the catwalk, "yeah, just... follow the rail actually."

We went on walking before the catwalk ran alongside a Pipe.

"Hello?" There was a turret in the pipe.

"Oh no..." I knew turrets were trouble.

"Hello?" the turret called again.

I gave a smile and a wave. "Yes, hello! No, we're not stopping!"

"Excuse me?"

I whispered to the test subject "Don't make eye contact, whatever you do."

"Hello?"

"Nope, thanks! We're good! Appreciate it!"

"Thanks anyway."

I pushed the test subject along the catwalk. "Keep moving, keep moving."

"Hello?"

The turret's voice faded.

"Hello?"

We entered an armoured door at the end of the catwalk.

"I'm different..."

Shutting the door behind us, all I could think was "That was close."

* * *

Opening the other door, I knew there would be bigger trouble awaiting us.

"Er, probably ought to bring you up to speed on something right now. ... Erm, in order to escape, we're gonna have to go... through _Her_ chamber," the subject seemed to know who I was referencing, "and, erm,... She will probably kill us if-if She's, erm, awake."

It sent chills down my spine to think about it. Even though She and I had had amicable moments in the past, I wasn't sure how She'd react to being reactivated after so many years.

"If you want to just call it quits," I gestured to the Observation Annex, "we can just sit here... forever. So, that's an option. Option A: sit here and do nothing. Option B: go through there, and if She's alive, She'll almost certainly kill us. So,... if you've got any reservations whatsoever about this plan, now would be a tremendous time to voice them."

I turned around, but the subject was gone. Through the windows, I could see a figure walking down the ruined hall toward Her chamber, and I raced to catch up, horrified of what might happen.

"Okay, I'm gonna lay my cards on the table: I don't want to do it. I don't want to go in there."

The door was opening, and the subject started to crawl under.

"NO! DON'T GO IN THERE! DON'T!"


	44. Chapter D1e

**Wheatley's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Five

* * *

I could feel my hydraulic pump rattling wildly as I raced to get the test subject back out of the chamber, but it subsided to normal operation with the reception of relieving news.

"Oh, She's off! She's off. Panic over; She's off. All fine! On we go."

Her parts were strewn across the corroded floor, the odours of paraffin, liquid coolant, and hydraulic fluid heavy in the stagnant mouldy air. It still seemed we weren't completely in the clear, so I took the precaution to tread lightly and speak softly.

"There She is," I whispered to the test subject. "What a nasty piece of work She was, honestly, like a proper maniac. Do you know who ended up purging Her? Do you know who ended up taking Her down in the end? You're not gonna believe this. A human!"

She reacted with horrified amazement.

"I know! I know; I wouldn't have believed it, either. Apparently, this human escaped and, erm,... nobody's seen him since."

Her expression seemed to fade.

"Then there was a sorta long chunk of time where, erm,... absolutely nothing happened,... and then there's us escaping now. So yeah, that's,er, that's pretty much the whole story; you're up to speed. Don't touch anything."

We had traversed the chamber and gotten past Her, and were making our way around an incinerator hatch.

"Okay, down these stairs." I led the way through a collapsed panel.

"JUMP! Wait, actually - " I stopped as the catwalk came to an abrupt halt from collapse, "look at that; that's, erm,... that's quite a distance, isn't it?"

Stepping behind the subject, I slowly mounted myself on her shoulders. "Okay, you know what? Er, go ahead and jump. You've got... You've got braces on your legs, so... you're all set." I felt it necessary to ensure optimal caution. "Er, but no... braces on your arms, though; so... you're going to have to rely on the old human strength to keep a grip on the Device, and... in addition, me. So, do - do really... do really keep a grip on me. ... Also, a note: erm, no braces on your spine, either. So,... So, don't land on that. Or your head, no braces there; that - that could split like a melon, erm,... from this height." The prospect was enough to provoke an uneasy laugh. "So,... er, do definitely focus on landing with your legs."

It then occurred to me that the landing would be hard. "Er, quick question: have you been working out? Because (I'll be honest) there's no evidence of it, you know?" Her expression seemed to slip toward insulted. "I mean, I'm not - I'm not, like, you know, like, just a plastic cup; er, we will be landing with some force, so, er, a bit of... bit of grip. Just use the grip, classic grip."

The plan seemed all good and laid out now. "Right. Let's go! Jump! What's the worst that can happen?" The Long Fall Boots won't hold up to our combined weight. "Oh. Oh, I just thought about the worst thing that can happen." Or the floor won't hold up to our combined weight. "Oh! Oh, I just thought of something even worse! Er, better plan, new plan: no imagining of any... any potential outcomes whatsoever, okay? Okay, just jump! Just jump into the... into the abyss, and... let's see what happens."

I squeezed my eyes shut, and then peered out. "Oh, I'm still there! I'm still there!"

She slapped me and made a move to tell me to zip it, which I did. Of course, I did scream as we fell through the collapsed stairwell.

The impact rattled the fallen catwalks like wind chimes. "Ah, still held! I'm still being held!" I hopped down from the subject's shoulders. "That's a great job; you applied the grip, and we're all fine. That's tremendous!"

I led the way through the hall, which led to a catwalk. My attention was drawn to the catwalk as I remembered installing catwalks with draining holes in them. Through those holes, I could see nothing below us, prompting me to stop suddenly.

"Agh! Sorry, I... I just looked down; I - I do not recommend it." I had to admit, it was a pretty long way down; and that thought crossing my mind caused my sight to drift back down. "Agh! I just did it again!" The test subject let the portal gun straddle her hip and she pushed me forward along the catwalk.

At the far end, I pushed a button, and a grate opened. "This... is the main breaker room. Let's go in."

We entered the room, illuminated with glowing switches in a dim blend of teal light. The subject shut the gate as I provided instructions.

"Look for a switch that says 'escape pod', alright? Don't touch anything else; we're not interested in anything else. Don't touch anything else; don't - don't even look at anything else. Just - well, obviously, you're gonna have to look at everything else... to - to - to find 'escape pod', but, erm, as soon as you've looked at something that doesn't say 'escape pod', look at something else. Look at the next thing, alright? So, don't touch anything else or look at - well, you can look at other things, but don't - do you understand?"

I started looking around the area, but the labels were printed on the lights themselves, making them illegible in the dark. "Can you see it anywhere? I can't see it anywhere. Er, tell you what. Plug me in, and I'll turn the lights on."

Slowly but surely, the lid was removed from my back, and I settled myself into the seat in the floor. Pushing the plug inlet with my back, the lights in the floor lit up.

I held my hands in a majestic pose. "Let there be light!" There was an awkward stare from the test subject. "That's, er, God; I was quoting God."

I started to push myself out of the seat, but I accidentally pressed one of the buttons. "Whoa, look at that! It's turning!" I wasn't sure which button I had pressed, but I hoped it wasn't the Emergency Startup Button. "Ominous! But probably fine, you know? As long as it doesn't start, you know, moving up. Now, 'escape pod', 'escape pod',..."

It quickly became clear that that was the button I had pushed. "It is moving up." Every switch in the room was flipped by the moving platform. "Okay, don't worry, I got it! I got it! This - This should slow it down." I pressed the button again, hoping that the platform would go back down. It paused briefly, but then it continued. "No, it makes it go faster." We reached the top and found ourselves back in Her chamber. "Uh-oh..."

"Power-up initiated."

I took the light off my chest to reach the keyboard inside. "Okay, don't panic! Alright, stop panicking; I can - I can still stop this. Erm,... er, oh! There's a - There's a password! It's fine, I'll just - I'll just hack it; not a problem."

A password for a premature power-up cancellation didn't make sense. My best guess was to prevent a hardware malfunction from incomplete data transfer; but I'm a construction engineer, not a computer designer.

With no idea what the password was (other than that it was six letters long), my best option was to try every combination possible. "Er... A-A-A... A-A... erm... A."

Invalid.

"Nope, okay. A-A-A-A-A-C."

Invalid.

"No... wait, did I do 'B'?" I turned to the test subject. "Er, do you have a pen? Start writing these down."

"Power-up complete."

I put my chest light back on and scrambled out of my seat. "Okay, okay." I grabbed my plug lid and started to screw it on as I stood myself against the wall. "New plan: just act natural. Act natural; we've done nothing wrong." Hoping to put on a friendly demeanour, I tried giving a smile and a wave to Her. "HELLO!"

She lingered for a fraction of a second before squinting at the test subject. "Oh,... it's you!"

I was slightly confused, and I asked the test subject "You know Her?"

The two females nodded in unison, with Her nod being deeper and slower than the test subject's. "It's been a long time. How have you been?"

I had just about finished screwing in the lid on my back, and I leaned toward the subject's ear. "I think She likes you."

The subject raised an eyebrow, but Her voice precluded a verbal reaction.

"I've been really busy being dead. You know? After you MURDERED ME?"

I was aghast; I thought Rattmann had caused Her shutdown, but it was the test subject standing next to me who had done it. "You did what?!"

The shock had not worn off by the time She swooped in and yanked the subject off her feet, slinging the portal gun from her hand.

"Oh no! No no no no no!" I scrambled off of the platform and tried to run away, but was caught by the seat of my trousers. "OH NO NO NO! NO! NO!"

She whipped me like a yoyo before focusing Her attention to the subject. "Okay, look. We've both said a lot of things that you're going to regret."

She tossed me up and grabbed me by the fuel tank, which restricted the ventilation ducts and hydraulic lines. "But I think we can put our differences behind us."

She tossed me over Her shoulder toward the chamber entrance. "For science. You monster."

I hit the ground with a heavy thud, causing damage to my metallic midriff. I was immobilized, but I could see what She was doing with the subject.

"I will say, though, that since you went to all the trouble of waking me up, you must really, really love to test."

The Incinerator opened, drawing a startled gasp from me.

"I love it, too. There's just one small thing we need to take care of first."

The subject dropped from Her fingers into the open hatch.


	45. Chapter D1f

**Wheatley's Story: Part D**  
Episode I, Chapter Six

* * *

I lay still on the floor, scratched and crushed, unsure if I could stand or walk. Suddenly, I saw a bird fly across the chamber and down toward me. Out of sheer reaction, I scrambled back and leapt to my feet swatting for the bird to get away from me.

Now I knew I could stand and walk; that's another mystery solved.

In the distance, I could hear Her talking. "Here we are, the Incinerator Room. Be careful not to trip over any parts of me that didn't get completely burned when you threw them down here. The Dual-Portal Device should be around here somewhere; once you find it, we can start testing again just like old times."

I walked over to the platform and picked up the portal gun that had been dropped. "There's a portal gun right here on the breaker room platform."

"I'll hold onto it for now; in the meantime, I need you to gather the materials on this list." She showed me a CD. "Trade?"

I saw this as an excellent opportunity to get out of the chamber, so I agreed. "Right."

"I will need those materials here swiftly; don't keep me waiting."

She promptly returned Her attention to the test subject, and I made my way to the hall as quickly as I could.

-

* * *

Returning to the Observation Annex, I sat down and examined my injuries. The compression around my fuel tank wasn't too severe, and my scratches were no worse than what would be expected on a month-old shoe.

The light on my chest was undamaged, as was the CD player inside. I put the CD in the player to read the list of materials She needed.

From the contents of the list, I realized that She intended to build a pair of androids.

It puzzled me as to why She needed two brand new robots to be built, as well as why She kept the portal gun that came from the old test track. But I didn't have time to ponder it; if I was going to have the best chance of escaping with the test subject, I'd need to bring Her the materials She needed.

At this point, whatever She had planned shouldn't have been a factor in my escape plan as far as I could tell.


End file.
